


They Call It Magic

by D1ona30



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Fluff, Hybrid AU, Hybrid Harry, Kitten Harry, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Underage, additional tags will be added later, kitten hybrid, kitten!Harry, mentions of abuse, omc/hybrid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-01-19 10:12:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1465570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D1ona30/pseuds/D1ona30
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You aren’t supposed to sell them when they are still that young but Anne had been worried about him from the day he was born</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>*hiatus*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And they call it true

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter is sorta crap. I've tried to make it less cheesy but can't figure how to work it any other way. I am so sorry. 
> 
> Also there WILL be eventual Harry and Louis. Just not there yet. 
> 
> I'll be changing the tags as I go. Some tags I've tagged ahead of time because they will come up and I think you all should know. They rating will change as well. 
> 
> Shout out to my emoji bestie [KrisStylinson](http://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisStylinson/pseuds/KrisStylinson)
> 
> As always I am dumb but you love me, maybe, Idk.
> 
> *I do not own anything and all mistakes are my own*
> 
> Title from "Magic" by Coldplay

He had been the runt of the litter, he’d been so small but had big green eyes fluttering rapidly and taking small shuddering breathes, the other two kitten hybrids wailing loudly, limbs flailing, all showing signs of being big and healthy.  She wasn’t sure if he would make it through the night. She could feel his heart racing in his tiny body when she bundled him up in her arms, deciding then and there that if he survived, he would be one she would take home.

Luckily he did, she had named him Harry. She loved him and raised him as if he were her own, like she did with all the hybrids that she raised and sold. But Harry was a little more special—she had donated her eggs to help in the manipulation of the DNA to make this litter of Kitten hybrids. Hybrids couldn’t get pregnant; they were all born sterile, but female hybrids could give birth to multiples. Coupled with the fact that a hybrid womb has a higher success rate for live births, it made them ideal for breeding, but it required donated eggs which would then be fertilized and engineered into hybrids, splicing the DNA with an animals.

With this litter they had been successful in engineering three fertilized eggs spliced with the DNA of a Calico cat. The owner of the female hybrid, who had carried the three kittens, kept two and Anne got Harry, and she was extremely pleased with the results.

Harry had inherited some of her appearance which only solidified the bond she felt for him.

She loved all the kitten hybrids that she took care of, but with Harry she was dreading the day that he was put up for sale. She couldn’t keep him, she liked what she did for a living: raising hybrids and then doing her best to make sure they were adopted into good homes and not to someone who would hurt them, but Harry would eventually go into heat, and he couldn’t be in her home with all these other hybrids around. People liked their hybrids to be innocent and having a mature hybrid around younger ones was a recipe for disaster.

But what do with him was the problem. She didn’t want to sell him to someone who would use him for what most, if not all hybrids are made for: SEX. Anne wanted something different for Harry, wanted him to choose things like sex for himself, not have if forced upon him. Yes, she will admit to herself that it’s a bit hypocritical of her to want these things for Harry and not the others, but he had always been different from the start, much sweeter and gentler, less animalistic. Always clinging to her when they went outside; the others running off ahead and teasing Harry over what a “baby” he was. Anne had faith that the others could take care of themselves if something went wrong and they always knew they could come back to her if they were mistreated, but Harry, she was afraid would take anything and everything without complaint and would probably never tell her if he was being hurt; because he “wouldn’t want to make a fuss.” Which he has said on numerous occasions when one the other kitten hybrids had picked on him ruthlessly.

So she decided to find him a home earlier than the rest. Now, Anne knows that you are supposed to wait till they are sixteen, but she wanted him sold and gone before potential buyers showed up and got a look at how pretty Harry was. He had large green eyes, lovely curls and a huge smile with dimples. Everyone would want him, and she knew he would start a bidding war that might actually end up in court (she has seen these things happen over especially prettyhybrids and Harry was most definitely a pretty hybrid), maybe even the prettiest of them all.                                                               

\-----------

Anne swears she is the luckiest person in all of history right now because that very weekend one of her best friends comes for a visit, the same friend who said she had always wanted a hybrid but couldn’t afford the huge price tag.  

Jay was sitting on Anne’s couch in the front room, watching as the hybrid cats played with their toys. Harry was curled up against Jay’s legs trying to ignore Ed, the orange haired half-tabby cat hybrid, as he kept tugging on Harry’s long dark chocolate colored tail to get him to play with the others. But Harry was having none of it, he was tired and just wanted someone to pet him and maybe scratch behind his ears. The nice lady with warm legs would do just fine, she smelled good and he could sense her calm demeanor when she had first entered their home.

“Come on Harry” Ed pulled Harry’s tail harder this time, making Harry  hiss at him, baring his little fangs, hand reaching back automatically to rub the sore spot where his tail connected to his body. Ed’s eyes flashed with worry, “Sorry mate! Didn’t mean to pull that hard.” He looked properly contrite and went to rub Harry’s sore bottom as well, “I just wanted you to come play, is all.”

Harry pated Ed’s hand to show he was forgiven, “I know, just tired.” He punctuated his words with a yawn, turning to bury his face further into the woman’s calf. She laughed lightly watching the exchange between the two hybrids and reached down to card her fingers through Harry’s dark curly hair, “All right there precious? That mean kitty didn’t hurt you did he?” she asked Harry but looked up to give a wink to the Ginger Tabby. Harry leaned into her touch, loving how she scratched his scalp, “no, ‘m fine.” His eyes fluttering closed feeling ready to fall asleep like that, face resting against her leg, hand in his hair, heaven for Harry.

Anne had been watching from the hallway leading in from the kitchen, holding a tray with two mugs of tea for her and Jay and some treats for the hybrids. It hit her then as she watched how comfortable Harry had become with Jay in such a short time and remembering how she had always treated the hybrids with love and respect. Anne knew that Jay would be perfect at taking care of Harry, Jay had no interest in doing anything intimate with a hybrid, had always been slightly appalled that Hybrids didn’t have a choice in the matter, and preferring her men “without a tail,” she had always joked when people brought up the topic.

Anne walked into the room and placed the tray on the coffee table, Ed immediately reaching out and grabbing a couple of biscuits before flopping himself down next to Harry, resting his head on Harry’s thigh so he could cuddle but still have a good view of the telly. Anne hands Jay the mug of tea when she straightens back up from petting Harry’s curls, Harry’s eyes have drifted closed and he is purring quietly. Jay thanks Anne and takes a slow sip, Anne watches her and studies her face trying to pick the right words to convince Jay but decides to just come out with it, “I want you to have Harry.” Jay coughs on her tea, liquid sputtering from her mouth, “Excuse me? What?”

Anne pats her back, helping clear her air way, “I want you to have Harry. He needs a good home and I think you can give it to him.”

Jay’s eyes are wide looking at her friend, “I’d love to but I can’t afford him.”

Anne waves her hand dismissively, “I don’t care about that. I can’t keep him. But I don’t want just anyone to have him,” Anne sighs, “I trust you, Jay.”

Jay is skeptical, of course she has always wanted a hybrid but Anne has never offered to just give one of hers away like this before, “Why?” she asks.

Anne looks around the room at the other’s and then down at Harry, her smile turns soft, “He’s special Jay. He’s part _me_. I can’t let him go to someone who only wants him for sex. I just can’t. I don’t care what that says about me.”

Jay looks at her friend and nods understanding, “But why not Gemma? He’ll be 16 in, what?, two years! Can’t she take him then?” Anne shakes her head, Anne loves her daughter but Gemma even at twenty, she isn’t ready for the responsibility of a hybrid, “No, I want him gone before then.” Anne points over to Fox and Scully cuddled up together in front of the window, “They are turning 16 at the same time. I don’t want other buyers to see him. Jay, if they see him, they will want him.” She looks beseechingly into Jay’s eyes, “Please.”

Jay sighs before nodding her head yes and Anne smiles, placing her hand on Jay’s arm, “Thank you.”

                                                _______________________________

If Anne had noticed the way one of Ed’s orange and white striped ears had perked up and turned slightly to listen in on her and Jay’s conversation about Harry she never mentioned it. So, Ed felt he didn’t need to mention that even though it appeared Harry had fallen asleep, in reality his purring had stopped after Jay had agreed to take him, and his body started to tremble. And in fact Harry had heard everything and was scared. He knew Jay was nice enough, she’d come over several times while he was growing up and she is always sweet to the hybrids but she wasn’t Anne, she wasn’t Ed, she wasn’t his family.

Harry kept to himself for the rest of the day, not leaving his bed till after Jay finally left, not wanting to look at the woman who was going to take him away from everything he knew and loved. He finally did leave his room, his stomach gnawing at him and he figured it was safe enough to go down stairs and get himself something to eat. He crept down the steps peering around the corner and seeing some of the hybrids in the living room but no Anne. He didn’t want to see her yet, he felt betrayed, and logically yes he knew that one day he would have to leave but he wasn’t ready, he was only 14! He prayed she was up in her room as he entered the kitchen but no such luck there she stood, back to him in front of the sink washing the dishes. He thought maybe he could slip back out unnoticed, go back to his bed and maybe cry a bit more but his stomach decided that it was a good time to announce how hungry he was by grumbling loudly. Anne turned jumping but laughed, “Oh Harry, surprised me there for a minute.”

Harry gave her a weak smile, “Sorry” and then headed for the fridge. She tilted her head studying him, “What’s wrong Harry?”

“Nothing” he mumbled, searching through looking for anything that would be quick.

Anne walked up behind him placing a hand on his back and reaching past him to grab a plastic container, “There’s some left over pasta in this, if you want?” Handing it to him.

“Thanks,” he says giving her a forced smile, hoping to make her believe he was fine. But she just quirked her eyebrow up at him in confusion.

“There is definitely something wrong. You are a shit liar.” She pulled him over to the table and pushed him down into the chair, looking at him pointedly, “Spill”

Harry placed the unopened pasta container on the table, sighing as he looked down at his hands. He thought about lying again but he knew she would see right through him, she was right he is a shit liar, “I heard you today.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion, Harry waved his hand towards the living room, “When Jay was here. I heard you ask her to take me and I know she said yes.”

Anne was quiet for a minute, taking a deep breath, “I’m sorry Harry. I wasn’t thinking, I shouldn’t have talked to her with you there.”

He shrugs, “I just don’t understand, why now? I’m not ready.”

Anne wraps her arms around him then and a pulls him into a hug, rubbing his back soothingly as tears start to fall from his face, “I know baby. I just really want you to be safe. Jay will take care of you. And hey,” She pulls back and brings her hands up to wipe his face with her thumbs, “It’s not right away. It’s going to be a few weeks before everything is set up properly. So we have some time.” She kisses his cheek. Harry doesn’t think a few weeks is a very long time so he doesn’t respond, just goes back to hugging her and hoping to always remember how safe he feels here in Anne’s house, having her arms around him like he is really her son and not a hybrid that she shares her genetic material with.

Later that evening after everyone has gone off to bed, Harry and Ed are in their shared room, there’s an uncomfortable silence between them. Neither sure who should start the conversation of Harry leaving. It’s Harry, staring at the ceiling, is the one who finally does, “it’s okay Ed, I know you heard. How could you not?” Ed rolls over on to his side to look over at Harry from across the room, “I’m so sorry, H.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks.” Harry rolls over to look at him to.

“You’re just so young. I’m the one who is supposed to go first, not you!”

“Who knows? Maybe you still will.” Harry trying to turn the conversation to Ed and how he’s been 16 for half a year now and still hasn’t been adopted. Ed just levels him with a look, “Let’s not.”

Harry sighs and goes back to staring at the ceiling, “ ‘m sorry. Just don’t wanna think about how I’ll have a whole new room in just a couple of weeks.” That gets him thinking and worrying his bottom lip, “Hey, do you think I’ll even have my own bed? Or will I have to sleep on the floor?”

Ed looks slightly concerned, “She seems nice. I think she’ll even give you your own room.” Harry hears the uncertainty in Ed’s voice. They’ve heard all kinds of things that owners do with their hybrids and as nice as Jay seems Harry can’t help but wonder if she will be just as bad as the stories. He has tears now streaking his face, a small whimper falls from his mouth, and Ed must have heard him because he’s off his bed in seconds rushing over to cuddle Harry, pulling him into his chest holding him tight, “It’s gonna be okay Harry. Anne would never let anyone buy us if they might hurt us, especially you.” Ed holds him tighter and lets Harry cry himself to sleep. Ed is positive that Anne knows what’s best for them but can’t help but feel sorry for Harry.

Ed stayed with Harry the rest of the night, always ready to give comfort when Harry needed it. Ed had always felt protective of the younger lad eager to take on the big brother roll. Most hybrids that Anne brought home were from large litters and came with siblings but Harry and Ed had both been in smaller litters so Anne was only able to bring them leaving their siblings behind. It’d been only natural for them to end up sharing a room and a brotherly bond that they both needed.

By the next morning Harry felt a bit better remembering Ed’s words and wanting to trust in Anne. This feeling lasted most of the day until sometime after lunch when he heard a shout coming from Anne’s office. Harry had been lounging on the sofa head laying on the arm rest, feet tucked up underneath him, eyes closed. He immediately tilted his head up, ears twitching towards the sound. Anne came busting out of the room the door swinging fast and banging against the wall, “ED!” she yelled. “ED! Get down here!” Harry could see she was fighting a smile, biting her lip to keep it in, she was watching the stairs but Harry knew that Ed was actually on the floor in front of him, so when Ed popped up with an, “I’m here!” Anne yelped.

Hand to her heart she looked at the two of them, “Jesus, you two.” And Harry chuckled at her. She tried keeping her face solemn, it didn’t work, and she burst out in a wide smile looking right at Ed, “Honey! Someone wants to adopt you!”

Harry’s eyes flicked to Ed, Ed’s eyes are wide and a small smile on his face, one that Harry _knew_ was fake, and Harry hid the lower part of his face behind the armrest.

“That’s fantastic, who…um..who is it?” Ed asked, eyes downcast as he pulled himself up to his feet. Anne came over then, her smile so blinding that it hid Ed’s sad one.

“His name is Graham! He’s 25 and he’s going to come for a visit this weekend. So you two can meet.” She pulled Ed into a hug, “this is so great, honey.” She kissed him on the cheek before pulling away and going back into her office, closing the door. Ed flopped down on the couch, rubbing his hands over his face, Harry nudged Ed’s leg with his toe, “What’s the matter? I thought you _trusted_ Anne?” Harry asked, he didn’t want to be mean but Ed had seemed so sure last night. Ed sighed, “I do trust Anne. Doesn’t mean I’m not scared.” He turned his body toward Harry shaking his index finger at him, “I’m allowed to be scared. I’m just not scared of him hurting me.”

“What are you scared of?” Harry’s voice sad to his own ears

“I’m scared that maybe he won’t like me.” Harry scoffed at him, “You’re great Ed! Best friend I ever had.”

Ed rolls his eyes, “I’m the _only_ friend you’ve ever had.” Harry just shrugs but motions for Ed to continue. Ed takes a deep breath and puts his hand on Harry’s calf, giving it a gentle squeeze, “I’m scared I’ll never see my brother again.” He looks Harry in the face, eyes filling with tears. Harry feels his own well up and reaches out to hug the only brother he has ever known. “We’ll figure it out. Yeah.” He feels Ed shake in his arms, “Maybe Graham is nice and maybe Jay is just as nice and we can visit.”

Ed wants to tell Harry how unheard of that is but he won’t, he lets them both believe that little lie for now.

The rest of the week goes smoothly enough, no one in the house seemed to notice the slight somber mood the two boys had been carrying since they did their best to keep it hidden. The only thing anyone might have noticed was them cuddling a bit more or sitting closer together during meals but one thing no one saw was how they had abandoned their beds at night and made a nest with their blankets on the floor and curled up next to each other like they would if they were in a Mother’s den, just to be close before Ed would be gone for good.

The weekend came quicker than Harry would have liked and he sat next to Ed on the couch waiting for the doorbell to ring announcing the arrival of this _Graham_ person. Harry really hoped he would be nice and take care of Ed. He could sense Ed getting nervous, his body trembling, long orange and white striped tail twitching behind them; so Harry put a comforting arm around his shoulders and gave it a light squeeze. They could hear Anne in the kitchen making tea, while he and Ed were  trying to time it carefully because Harry was supposed to be upstairs in his room, Anne was very strict in not letting the underage hybrids be seen by prospective buyers. All of buying age were allowed to loiter around in the chance that the buyer wanted two or if it didn’t work out with the one they had originally came to see. The sneaking around put them more on edge then they already were so they both jumped when Jessy spoke suddenly from her perch by the window, “Ed! He’s here! And he’s cute! Got hair just like yours.” She squeaked, her Fluffy white Persian tail dancing with excitement, her matching ears sticking straight up. Harry squeezed Ed’s knee one more time while standing up and looking over at her, wagging a finger, “You leave him alone, Jessy. He’s here for Ed.” Jessy crossed her arms and huffed, sinking down into the cushions by the window. He gave Ed a wink before heading upstairs to his room, knowing that Anne would be out in a minute and Graham would be ringing the doorbell.

Harry did his best to listen to anything he could hear from his spot at the top of the stairs but after the initial greeting the Ed, Anne and Graham moved into the kitchen and he could only make out their low voices but no words. At one point Ed and Graham had moved out into the little garden besides the house and Harry could see them but still couldn’t hear everything they were saying, he tried focusing his ears but the house was loud with everyone talking and moving around so it was useless. Harry saw Ed laugh, throwing his head back his blue eyes closed against the sun and Harry felt his lips tugging upwards knowing that Graham had made Ed laugh like that. And Graham’s answering smile at Ed laughing was beautiful and Harry was filled with a warm feeling suspecting that Graham may actually be a good thing that happens to Ed.

Graham stays well into the evening, staying way past dinner and Harry is having trouble keeping his eyes open while waiting for Ed to come up stairs to their room. He was just drifting off when the door opened, spilling light across his face from his spot on the floor, he squeezed his eyes tighter, covering the light with his hand, “Ed?” he croaked out.

“Sorry, H. Didn’t mean to wake you.” Ed whispered coming into the room and closing the door softly behind him.

“No, it’s okay. I’m awake.” He sat up, sitting cross legged and rubbing his eyes brushing away the lingering drags of sleep, “I wanna know what happened.”

Ed smiled at him as he changed into his pajamas, “We can wait till tomorrow. Go to sleep.”

Harry shook his head, “No. Tell me everything. I won’t be able to sleep if you don’t tell me.”

Ed sat down across from Harry in their makeshift bed, “okay,” he said as he sat down to crossing his own legs, then looked up meeting Harry’s eyes his smile wide, teeth showing, “He’s wonderful. He makes me laugh. He’s so nice H. He owns a hybrid clothing shop and not one of those where the just cut a hole in the top of hats or the back of pants. Like actual clothing made for US! He wants to bring some over tomorrow for us, to keep! Can you believe it?” Ed’s smiling so brightly, his face flushed from gushing about Graham, and all Harry can do is nod his head and smile back, he can feel the tears prickling the backs of his eyes but he wills them away. Ed is so happy and he deserves to be happy and Harry won’t ruin that with his selfishness. Ed had been silent for a minute looking off dazedly at the wall the smile has turned thoughtful and he turns to look at Harry, “You wanna know the best part?”

Harry reaches out then and holds Ed’s hand in his, “yeah Ed, tell me the best part.”

“I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to have sex with me.” And Harry can’t fight his tears anymore so he pulls Ed into a crushing hug and hides his face in the crock of Ed’s neck and he feels Ed’s body start to shake and now they both are crying silently.

The next morning just as promised Graham shows up with a truck with boxes full of the hybrid clothing, different sizes and colors, the house is brimming with excitement all the hybrids up and about wanting to get their hands on the new clothing. But the best part of the day was after everyone had emptied the boxes and Graham came in carrying a long black case. He placed it down on the coffee table and called for Ed to come over.

“Ed, love, I got something for you.” Graham waved his hand over the case, gesturing for Ed to open it. Ed got down on his knees in front of it and flipped up the gold clasps, lifting the lid, he gasped at the guitar inside, he picked it up gingerly mouth hanging open in shock.

Graham moved quickly to kneel down by Ed, “It’s a Little Martin LX1e acoustic. I thought it be perfect for you to learn on. Anne said you always wanted to learn. I just wanted to show you that I want to make you happy. I want you to be happy with me.” Graham was rambling now and Ed was shaking, tears slipping down his face, “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Ed put the guitar back in its case and hugged Graham tightly continuing to murmur his thanks on Graham’s shoulder. Harry watched from his perch on the stairs, he couldn’t stop smiling, his heart swelling knowing that Ed would be happy and he wondered if he will be just as happy with Jay as Ed will be with Graham.


	2. Baby, It's a violent world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed leaves and Paige is a bitch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So heads up for any trigger warnings, there is mentions of abuse and rape. Nothing is graphic but it is talked about. 
> 
> "Life in Technicolor ii" - Coldplay is the next song on my play list for this fic. If you were wondering. 
> 
> Again to my dude bro pal, "it's mutual, we've discussed it", [theycalluslarrystylinson](http://theycalluslarrystylinson.tumblr.com)

The day Ed leaves is a lot happier than Harry expected it to be, it can’t be helped with the way Ed is buzzing with excitement. He can’t sit still, keeps pacing the house and glancing out the window waiting for Graham’s sleek black car to pull up and take him to his new home. Harry just sits in the arm chair, legs splayed out in front of him, with his feet crossed at the ankles and watches Ed, smiling to himself.

Graham decided to stay in town so he could spend more time with Ed, wanting to get to know him better. Graham taken him out for walks to the parks, where they would sit and talk for hours then take him to dinner at the local cafés that allowed hybrids to eat inside. And by the end of the week Graham had gotten all the paperwork signed and had paid full price for Ed not even bothering to negotiate like most buyers did; had actually said, “I feel like I’m getting a bargain. Ed is just brilliant Anne. I really could not ask for a better companion.” All the ears in the room perked up at that. _Companion_ wasn’t a word often associated with hybrids, companion meant friend, not lover and most certainly not sex pet. All the hybrids in the room looked questionably at Graham then Ed but Ed just looked down and smiled to himself.

Graham showed up before lunch with a big smile and a small black velvet bag. Ed stopped in his tracks, upon seeing him, right in the middle of the living room where he had been pacing in front of the t.v. this time, his blue eyes fixed on the bag in Graham’s hand. Harry sat up straighter in the chair, pulling his legs back under it, knowing what the black bag meant.

Since Ed had been already paid for and Graham had made it clear he had no interest in having more than one hybrid, Anne had allowed Harry to be down stairs when Ed left so they could have a proper good-bye.

Anne greeted Graham brightly, opening the door widely allowing him to enter, he said his hello to her and then went straight over to Ed. Graham reached out for his hand first and held it smiling at him, “Hey, are you ready to go home?” Ed blushed at the words and Harry couldn’t believe his eyes, he’d never seen that before. Ed’s eyes kept drifting down to the bag in Graham’s hand and for a quick second Harry saw him frown.

“It’s weird to give this to you. I think the idea of collaring you is absurd but it’s the law. I promise at home you don’t have to wear it. And I tried to get one that would be just as lovely as you.” Graham was rambling, Harry noticed he did that whenever he was nervous, which seemed to happen quiet often when Ed was around. Graham held out the bag for Ed, and he took it in his slightly shaking hand and opening the ties slowly. Ed reached in and pulled out the baby blue collar, “I think it matches your eyes,” Harry almost shouts in the quiet room. Graham just laughs looking over at him, “Yeah. That’s…uh….that’s what I was going for.” He turns back to smile anxiously at Ed.

“It’s perfect.” Ed says looking Graham in the eyes and smiling, “will you put it on me?”

“Sure” Graham takes it from him and reaches around his neck to clasp it together, then presses a soft kiss to Ed’s cheek. Ed smiles sheepishly, the silver tags sitting softly on the hollow of his throat, and Harry sits transfixed. “ _Could this really be what it’s like? Could I have this?_ ” He thinks to himself. Harry shakes himself out of his thoughts when, Ed kicks his foot, “H, I’m leaving.” Harry’s up and out of his seat, reaching out for Ed to pull him into a hug.

“I’m gonna miss you.” Ed says to him.

“Me too, Ed. But I’m glad you found someone who wants to take care of you.”

Ed nods his head as much as he can with it wedged against Harry’s shoulder. Graham comes up behind Ed and rubs his back, “You’ll see each other again. I promise.”

Harry’s eyes fly to Graham and Ed pulls away abruptly, “really?!” they both say in unison. Graham laughs, “of course! Anne has my number and she can give it to your new owner and we will make it happen.”

Harry and Ed are smiling brightly when they hug once more before Ed leaves but it’s not a “good-bye” hug it’s an “I’ll see you later” hug. Harry isn’t sure if anyone can be as wonderful as Graham but he surely hopes Jay will.

                                                ------------------------------------------

That night Harry is laying in his bed, feeling a bit disoriented after spending the past week on the floor curled up with Ed. He stares at Ed’s empty bed, it having been stripped bare, thinking about who might occupy it next. Harry had overheard Anne on the phone talking to someone about a new litter that was due and how it was perfect timing since she was about to have two free beds and Harry knew that she was talking about Ed’s and his soon empty one.

The room was dark, except the small opening coming from the door, the hallway light streaming in. Harry felt his eyes finally drifting shut when he heard the creak as the door widened and a tall lanky figure came in to view blocking the light. At first he couldn’t make out who it was but then a sickly sweet voiced hissed out, “Hey, there pretty boy.” And Harry groaned rolling over to his other side, not wanting to deal with Paige tonight.

“What, no hello? And I thought you were the one with manners.” She icily said coming over to flick Harry’s ear with her long nails. He rolled back over towards her, “Hello, Paige.”

“That’s better,” she replied before throwing herself down on Ed’s, empty, bed and propping her head up with one arm, looking over at Harry with a scowl on her face. Harry looked her right in the eyes, to prove he wasn’t scared of her. Which is actually quite a feat for him because in fact his was terrified of her, all the hybrids in the house were.

Paige didn’t grow up with Anne like the rest of them, she was a stray, Anne had found at the hybrid shelter and for some reason decided to adopt, try and rehabilitate Paige and hopefully find a good home for her. In Harry’s opinion it wasn’t working, she was very foul tempered.

He supposed it must be hard on her, she was nearly 17 and no one wanted to buy her because of her odd markings. She shared her DNA with a snowshoe cat and while those normally gave the hybrids the white hair and ice blue eyes it didn’t work out well with Paige. Only one of her eyes were blue the other a mud brown, and the brown marking gene on the face of the cat is usually suppressed but somehow came out on her, her lovely blue eye surrounded by the large brown patch of color. To other hybrids she was beautiful, a lovely mix of her cat self and human self, and unfortunately it wasn’t something most buyers were interested in. Harry had heard some of them whispering to Anne, “She just looks too much like a cat,” or “well maybe if it was on both sides and both eyes were blue.”

And from the rumors whispered around the house, the person who raised her had not only felt the same but worse because Paige was blind in her blue eye from the things they had done to her.

So, yes, Harry felt bad for what happened to her but didn’t understand why she had to been mean to all of them, and why she turned most of her anger at Harry. Ed had always said she was jealous because Harry was so much prettier than the rest of them but Harry just shook his head, he didn’t think he was prettier than anybody no matter what Ed said.

With that thought rolling around in his head as looked at her lovely face that was turned down in a frown, Harry blurted out, “You look prettier when you smile.” Both their eyebrows shot up in shock at his words.

“Excuse me?” She asked

“Uh….I…that’s,” Harry felt so stupid, he knew he was in for it now, everyone in the house knew never to talk about her looks or their looks, for that matter, in her presence.

She sat up so quickly, ears perking up and tail twitching behind her, “Am I not pretty enough for the fucking perfect lil kitty cat?” Her voice turning cold, she was up and off the bed quickly, pouncing on him and pinning him down, showing just how much of a feral cat she was. Leaning down in his face she hissed out, “Do you know what humans do to pretty little kitties like you Harry?” Harry squeezed his eyes, turning his face away, wanting to shut out her words, “hmmm? Do you?” she whispered into his ear, “You think that woman _Jay_ is going to be good to you? Do you think that _Graham_ is going to be good to Ed?” She said their names with venom and hatred lacing her tone, Harry shuddered, feeling some form of bravery, he didn’t have as he answered back, “yes, they are nice.” He moved his hands to try and push her off but she was three years old and a lot stronger, “HA!” she threw her head back and laughed but it was humorless, looking back down hard eyes glaring at him, “No kitten. You are much too pretty for that. All human are the same. All they do to hybrids is fuck them and beat them. That is all we are good for. That is all YOU are good for.” 

Harry was trembling, pushing feebly at her but she leaned in and ran her nose along his jaw, “and you sure are pretty little Harry, she’s going to want to fuck you soon. You better not hold out too long. Don’t want her to destroy that face of yours” she ran her nails across his cheek bone, “of course I could do that for you,” tone turning light, questioning, “then maybe no one will want you, just…..like…..me,” he felt her nails digging into the skin on his face, full terror filling him now. He shoved her will all his strength throwing her off the bed, surprising himself. She landed with a thud looking slightly stunned but then laughed at him manically before standing up and brushing herself off.

“At least we know you can fight back if they get too rough with you.” She giggled, giving him a wink before leaving, slamming the door behind her. Harry sat in his bed, body covered in sweat and trembling.

 _“God she’s crazy,”_ he thought to himself before laying back down. He didn’t want to believe her, he tried to push her words away but the thoughts kept coming back, swirling around endlessly bringing his fears back full force. It was his last night at Anne’s and earlier he thought he would be crying in sadness when he laid in his bed for the last time but now after his visit from Paige he was crying in fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for this being short and for leaving you in such a bad way, it is what it is
> 
>  
> 
> If you wanna you can reach me [here](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com)


	3. Out of place all the time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooo here is the next chapter. I hope you like it.
> 
> "Breathing Underwater" by Metric really helped me along with this chapter.
> 
> You should check out my lovely emoji who always helps with my fic, you should!!! *hint hint* [KrisStylinson](http://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisStylinson/pseuds/KrisStylinson)

Jay is late, really late and Harry has been anxious all day and now he feels like crying because what if she changed her mind (and even though part of him would be relieved), he at least knew her and she seemed nice, despite what Paige had said the night before. Anne didn’t seem concerned about Jay’s lateness, just patting Harry on the shoulder while she went about her evening routine of picking up after everyone and making phone calls to potential buyers and breeders.

 

At half past seven the bell rang and Harry jolted up from his position on the floor, snuggled up next to Jessy, who had been running her finger through his hair soothingly. He had been drifting to sleep and hadn’t even heard a car pull up. Anne rushed to the door and greeting the person warmly and from the sound of the voice and smell Harry could tell it was Jay. Harry snuggled back against Jessy’s hold and she moved her arm to wrap it around his waist pulling him in and whispering, “It’s okay babe, I know she is nice, I can smell it.” She gave him a small kiss on his cheek before releasing him and he stood up, legs a bit shaky. Anne came into the room followed by Jay who was smiling at him.

 

“Are you ready to go?” Anne asked Harry, he nodded his yes and walked over to the corner where he had sat his blue duffle bag, full of the hybrid clothes Graham had brought over and Ed had left behind for him saying, “Graham owns the store. I’ll be getting tons more, so I think you should keep them,” after Harry had first refused.

 

He gave the room a final wave and small good-bye before going over to Anne and Jay with his eyes down cast. Anne quickly pulled him into a hug, “Oh baby. I’m gonna miss you.”

 

Harry hugged back, “I’m going to miss you too,” trying to fight back the tears, it was a losing battle, and Anne was the closest thing to a mother Harry would ever have. She pulled back, lifting her hands to his jaw and used her thumbs to wipe away the tears. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll come visit you and Jay.” She pecked him on his cheek before she turned them both towards Jay, slipping her arm over his shoulder in the process, “You’ll take care of my baby, won’t you Jay?”

 

Jay smiled sweetly at the two of them, “Of course. He’ll be just fine.”

 

Anne gave his shoulder a squeeze and smiled at him then dropped her arm so Harry could throw his duffle bag over his shoulder. Jay looked at her watch, “Well we best get going. I’ve got take-away in the car and its getting cold.” Harry nodded and followed Jay towards the door, Anne following behind. Just as Jay stepped outside, she spun around, “OH! I almost forgot. Here.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a brown leather collar with a single brass tag and handed it over to Harry. He took it from her out stretched hand, “I know it’s not the nicest looking but I hope it’s comfortable, I didn’t want anything that would chafe.” Harry liked it, yes it wasn’t pretty but it was very soft, the tag was plain with just his Name on the front and the bar code that stored all his information on the back, a spot easily located to be scanned by a Hybrid Catcher if he ever got lost.  Harry put it on and adjusted it so the tag hung in front, “Thanks, it feels nice,” he said.

 

Jay smiled, “And as long as you stay in the yard and in the house you won’t need to wear it.” Harry’s smile turned more genuine at her words, not wearing a collar full time is a sign of trust from an owner to their hybrid and it meant a lot to Harry that she was giving that to him so readily. “ _Maybe Paige was wrong about all humans,”_ he thought to himself as he followed Jay to her car, giving one last wave to Anne before climbing in.

 

\------------------------

 

He wasn't so sure about that later that evening when looking at his room. They'd shared a comfortable drive back to her house, his new home, with Jay apologizing for being late, telling him that she had assisted in a labor at the hospital she worked at and the woman ended up having twins, which had surprised them all but also had made the labor and delivery last a lot longer.

 

"I had planned on cooking you dinner, actually, help you settle in but I after I got cleaned up. It was late and I'm tired. So I got some Chinese if that's alright." 

 

"Yes, thank you. Smells wonderful." He sniffed the air, he could smell the food that was set in the backseat, and he hadn’t realize he was hungry until now, his nerves having gotten the better of him earlier.  

 

They pulled up into the drive way and Harry could make out the blue paint on the two story house even in the fading light. They got out of her car and he followed her up the path to the door after Jay got the food from the back. Jay looked back at him as she unlocked the house, "I'm going to put up a little fence in the front so you can come out here too, for now just the back, okay?" Harry nodded and gave her a small smile.

 

As soon as they entered the house Harry could smell the strong scent of another person, possibly male, but he couldn't be positive about that. He had smelled it on Jay before but thought it was just a part of her but now he knew it was actually another person, he didn't say anything about it deciding to wait and see if Jay will tell him. She put her keys in a dish on the little table by the door before flicking on the light revealing part of the lower floor to him, to the right the wall opened up to show a small den with a couch, love seat and arm chair with a coffee table and TV, to his left a door pushed open that lead to what from this angle might be a dining room and straight in front was a set of stairs that he assumed lead to bedrooms and hallway to right of the stairs that led to the back of the house.

 

Jay motioned for him to follow her and she led him through the open door into the dining room and then another door in the room that lead to the kitchen. She set the bag of food down on the island in the middle of the room and pulled out the different trays. Harry stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hand tight around his duffle bag strap and taking the kitchen in, the light yellow painted walls, the tiled floor and the small round breakfast table placed perfectly by the large window that showed the back yard. He shuffled over to the table and sat at one of the chairs, placing his bag down by his feet and watched the fading light outside. 

 

"It's just chicken and rice. I hope that's enough." He turned his head to look at Jay who was spooning out the food on to two plates.

 

"Yes, thank you"

She brought the food over and sat down in front of him. They both ate in silence neither them knowing what to say at this point. Jay once again was the one to break the silence, "After dinner, I'll show you up to your room."

 

Harry nodded while he ate and wondered what "your room" meant, exactly.

 

He found out later once they were done eating and after Jay had cleaned up their plates, putting the leftovers in the refrigerator. She told him the rooms where upstairs, she led him out the side door of the kitchen, it took them to the hallway by the stairs. To his left was a door with window panes that went outside but they took a left towards the stairs.

 

And he followed her up, the first door on the right was closed and the male smell was coming largely from there. Jay motioned her head to the room, "That's Louis' room, my son, he's only 2 years older than you, so you two should get along well" she smiled at him, (that explained the smell) and he nodded, hoping they could at least be friends, "He's over at a friend’s tonight. Thought it'd be easier for you if it was just us tonight." Harry wasn't sure what she meant by it being "easier if it was just them tonight." Paige's words were creeping back in and pushed he them down hard until they came to the next room which was on the left, Jay pushed the door open. Inside was a single twin bed freshly made sitting in the middle of the room, a dresser across from it and a little desk and chair in front of the window that was on the far right. He was floored, his own room, he never thought he'd actually get his own room and it made him nervous. All of his fears came flooding back and he flinched when he felt her touch his shoulder. Jay didn't seem to notice as she said, "I know it's pretty bare but you can do what you like. It's your room, Harry. I want you to be comfortable in it." She gave him a light squeeze before stepping out and away from the door, "My room is just down the hall on the left and the bathroom is on the right," she pointed at the two rooms with her finger, "You'll share it with Lou, I have my own. So take a shower if you want or bath." She covered her mouth in a yawn, "I'm sorry. I'm knackered. I think I'll head to bed. Just make yourself at home and I'll see you in the morning." She patted his back, then headed to her room, she stopped and looked back at him, "If you need anything. Anything at all, Harry. Just come and get me." She gave him a smile and he nodded at her, and she went into her room, closing the door behind her

 

Harry stood in the doorway for a minute longer staring at the room before him, _his room_ , it has one bed, one dresser, one desk, with one chair, and it even has a closet! He would have never imagined he would have something this wonderful and Jay had said he could decorate it, make it his own. He felt tears prickling the corners of his eyes and he quickly stepped inside closing the door behind him before he let them fall. The leather collar suddenly felt heavy and abrasive on his neck, he fumbled through his tears to get him off as fast as possible, throwing it across the room where it hit the wall with a loud thump.

 

 _“Fuck”,_ he thought to himself, holding his breathe, waiting to see if Jay had heard anything. Harry’s ears twitched around straining to hear luckily the house was quiet. He released his breathe that he had been holding and walked over to _HIS_ bed, setting his bag down on the floor next to it, then sitting down on top of the navy blue comforter folding his legs up underneath himself.

 

He grabbed the matching pillow and clutched it to his chest, hiding his face in the cotton, letting it muffle his sobs. It was all too much, Harry was overwhelmed. He hadn’t expected all of this, he felt that, yeah sure, she would be nice to him, give him a comfy hybrid bed, maybe even a crate, he’d seen those in magazines and knew that this was how it was when you had an owner. He always knew Anne had been different letting them share rooms and have actual beds but he didn’t think _anyone_ would be like her, not from what he has been taught by other hybrids, magazines, TV shows, and the news. That combined with what Paige had said last night, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a catch.

 

And that terrified him. He wasn’t ready for any of that and even if he ever did feel ready he had no idea how to do any of it in the first place! That set off a fresh wave of tears at the thought that if he wasn’t good enough Jay might be mad. “ _What if she hurts me?_ ” his terrified thoughts whispered to him, he shook his head, no, to himself but looked around the room again and all the things she had given him.

 

“Shit” he said to the empty room, his tears finally starting to dry up as the reality of the situation settled in. He could do this, he could cope with it, and Jay was nice, she was sure to be gentle with him.

 

He decided he wanted a little bit of control, didn’t want her sneaking in on him at night while he was sleeping or her being angry because he hadn’t come to her sooner. She had said to come to her if he needed anything, that’s probably what she meant and he needed to get this over with so he could go back to his room and have a cry over losing his virginity to a woman who was old enough to be his mother (if he had one). He stood up from his bed and toed off his shoes, he thought about removing more but decided against it, he wasn’t that brave! He left his room slowly and walked down to her room, opening the door as softly as possible, his body already beginning to tremble in fear. He really didn’t want to do this and for a moment he thought about turning back, forgetting the whole thing and just wait for her but he caught sight of her sleeping in her bed, which was larger than his, white blanket pushed down around her waist, long brown hair fanning out on the pillow and she didn’t look quiet as scary as he thought.

 

He took a deep breath and tiptoed around the bed so he could face her, not feeling comfortable enough to actually get into the bed. She was sleeping and Harry wasn’t sure how to go about this, he could leave and she would have never known but his fear of not knowing when it will happen out road his fear of what he was about to do. He leaned over her and slipped his hand behind her neck, slightly lifting it, she mumbled something that he didn’t catch but her eye lids where starting to flutter open so he took that as a good sign. He moved his face to hover his lips over hers but couldn’t do it so he shifted up and placed a tentative kiss to her forehead, he pulled away quickly and looked at her face. Her eyes where open now with confusion written all over them.

 

“Harry?” She asked, eyes blinking the sleep away, “What are you doing?”

 

Still holding her neck and looking in Jay’s eyes, “I want to make you happy.”

 

Her brows furrowed together, her sleep laden voice mumbling, “What?” once again before Harry is stepping back and gripping the bottom of his shirt to pull it off. Jay sits up then, becoming fully awake within seconds and pulling the blanket up to cover herself, “NO! Harry! Stop!” She practically yells at him. He’s frozen in his spot but let’s go of the shirt and it falls back down, Jay takes a lung full of air and breathes it out relieved. Now Harry is confused, “What? Did I do something wrong? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

 

She pats the bed by her feet, wanting him to sit and he does, making sure to keep his distance, not wanting to get yelled at again, his tail is drooped down in shame. She reaches over and rubs his arms, “Harry,” she says soothingly, “That is not something I want, at least not from you.” She smiles faintly at him.

 

“But isn’t that why you bought me? Isn’t that why you gave me all that stuff?!” He’s feeling panicky now, he doesn’t know what the hell is going on.

 

“No baby,” She let her hand fall to lay on top of his, “First off, I didn’t buy you. Anne gave you to me.”

 

Harry’s eye brows shot up, this was something he didn’t know, “But why?”

 

“Well that kind of leads in to the second thing. She wanted you to be taken care of, like the little boy you are and I gave you those things so you would feel more comfortable like this was your home.” She gave his hand a squeeze, “Which as I see now, didn’t really work,” she laughed morbidly with that.

 

Harry looked down at their hands, processing all this new information and what it might mean, looking back up at her, “So, you don’t want to have sex with me?”

 

She laughed more happily this time, “God, no. Sorry babes but you are way, WAY too young for any of that. You get that right out of your head. No one in this house is going to be having any kind of sex with you.”

 

He left her room shortly after that, they shared a hug and exchanged goodnights and Harry had never felt more relieved in his life. He had a home with a wonderful lady who wanted to love him and take care of him like he was her son, nothing more. When he went back to _his_ room, feeling more comfortable calling it that, he easily stripped down to his pants and climbed into bed and falling asleep before his head completely hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if you want come look through my [They Call it Magic](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com/search/they+call+it+magic) tag for my inspiration for this fic
> 
> And before anyone flips, Louis will be in the next chapter. I swears.
> 
> As always I am [dumb](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com) but you love me


	4. Can you see what I see?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is confused and Harry wishes Jay had never said that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Firstly thank you all for reading this. I know it's a bit slow on the plot, I'm trying I really am.
> 
> Also I need to let you know that I will have to be slowing down my updates to every 2 weeks. This is just for the next month or so. It's the end of the school year and I have a lot to do before then. Projects, tests, and lots and lots of HW, ridiculous! Can anyone please tell me why they bombard students with all this extra work at the end of the year? Please! I'd really like to know.  
> Once school is done, I can go back to updating weekly, please don't give up on me. 
> 
> Anyway the song for this chapter is "Stop and Stare" by One Republic  
> mostly cuz time was suspended during a particular part and that's all I could think about. lol

When Harry wakes up the next morning he can make out muffled voices coming from somewhere in the house and for a minute he thinks he is back at Anne’s hearing the other hybrids up and about getting ready for the day. But when his eyes finally blink open he notices the light is coming in from the wrong side of the room and groans when everything from the night before comes crashing back down on him. His embarrassing actions and Jay’s comforting words.

               

He rolls out of bed and searches around in his bag for some sweats and a shirt, thinking he should probably put his clothes away at some point in the day, and then getting dressed. Deciding to make his way downstairs to investigate the noise and maybe find something to eat. Coming down the stairs he can make out Jay’s voice coming from the kitchen and another person’s voice along with it. From the smell it’s possible that it is Jay’s son but it’s mixed with the smell of eggs and bacon so he can’t be too sure. He thinks about just going into the living and leaving the two alone but his hunger along with the scent of food propels him towards Jay and the stranger. He goes through the dining room door but stops before entering the kitchen, he can hear the conversation more clearly now and it’s about him.

 

“So it’s here then?” The falsetto male voice says.

 

“Yes, _he_ is here.” Jay answers back sounding annoyed.

Harry stands behind the door, his brown cat ear pressed up against it not wanting to miss a word. He knows he is shouldn’t listen in but he wants to know if this new person will be callous towards him, so far it’s not looking good.

 

“I can’t believe you brought one of those sex crazed animals home!”

Harry curls into himself, cowering from the tone of the young man’s voice.

 

“ _Harry is NOT a sex crazed animal!”_ Jay shouts and Harry hears something bang against possibly the counter, “You will not talk about him like that again. Do you understand me?” Jay is definitely mad now. There is silence coming from the other person. Harry is shaking, he doesn’t feel comfortable when people are upset around him, he needs to make them happy, and he isn’t sure what to do in this situation.

 

“ _Louis?_ ” Jay warns

 

“Yeah, okay. I’m sorry.” The boy, Louis, says. Harry’s eyes widen now knowing the unfriendly voice is going to be living with him and sleeping practically across the hall from him, _“Great”_ he thinks.

 

“And, besides he’s just a baby, cutest thing too.” Jay’s voice sounds softer now, Harry hears the sounds of plates being set down and the silence between remains. He decides it’s now or never and opens the door, rubbing his eyes dramatically to make it look like he just woke up and hasn’t been eavesdropping.

 

Harry looks at Jay first giving her a warm smile, she replies in kind with an added, “Good morning Harry, are you hungry? I made breakfast.”

 

“Yes please.”

 

She nods at him and points toward the table, “That is Louis, don’t mind him. He’s in a mood” She rolls her eyes and goes back to putting eggs on the three plates in front of her. Harry turns towards the table but keeps his eyes down cast, not wanting to see the hatred in his eyes that he felt in the boy’s voice. He can see the toes of Louis’ shoes underneath the table as he gets closer, he pulls out the chair next to him and sees the boy shuffle a little in his seat, letting out a small gasp. Harry’s eyes jump up to the boy’s face of their own accord.

 

Harry is frozen, he knows his breath has left him and he doesn’t even care. He just stops and stares at Louis’ face. “ _Fuck he’s pretty”_ is all that comes to his mind.

 

When Harry’s green eyes meet Louis blue he doesn’t understand the expression he sees, his pupils are dilated despite the brightness of the room but it’s not hatred Harry sees he knows that for sure. Their mutual staring is broken by Jay coming over and putting plates in front of them, “Eat.” She says pointing at the plates and both boys turn away from each other to the food in front of them. Neither boy saying more than a thank you to Jay, Louis finishing up first, quickly getting up, and putting his plate in the sink before rushing off to his room. Jay sighs looking at Louis’ back as he leaves but doesn’t say anything and Harry doesn’t either.

 

The weekend passes much the same, Louis comes down for meals but then goes immediately back up to his room. By Sunday Jay seems fed up with it, speaking to him from her spot on the couch, next to Harry, they had been cuddling up on the couch watching some program that Harry wasn’t paying attention to. Jay had been scratching behind his ears and he was drifting off to sleep. Louis had come down the stairs and was in the kitchen puttering around but when he came back through with a plate and was heading back up the stairs Jay stopped him, “Louis?” she questioned

 

“Yeah” Louis says warily, turning back to look at the two of them sitting together, Harry picked his head up from Jay’s shoulder and stared straight at the TV not wanting to look at Louis and have the fluttering his chest to come back, it keeps happening and he doesn’t know how to stop it.                

“You’ve spent an awful lot of time in your room this weekend. Is there something wrong?” Jay asks, sounding sweet but Harry could sense the irritation and apparently Louis could as well, he tensed up at his mother’s words.                

“Uh, no” he answered coolly, “I’ve just been….uh…working on a project for school.”

Jay narrowed her eyes at him but doesn’t call him on the obvious lie, “I expect you’ll be done with it in time to help with dinner.”

 

“Yeah, sure. It’ll be done.” Louis then rushed up the stairs with his plate, slamming his door in the process.

 

Jay huffed a breath and squeezed Harry closer, “It’ll be alright. He’ll come around.”

Harry didn’t respond just laid his head back down on her shoulder, not entirely sure that she was right.

 

\--------------------------------------------------

               

Monday morning went by in a daze for Harry. Jay and Louis both rushing around getting ready for the work and school day a head. Louis was a flurry of soft fringe, stripes and suspenders as he dashed about the house, yelling questions at his mother and blue eyes drifting to Harry anytime he did stop moving. Harry couldn’t help the blush that rose to his cheeks every time it did and then Louis would lick his lips quickly before shaking his self and going about his morning routine.

               

Harry stayed out of their way as best he could, sitting at the little kitchen table as Jay spouted out things she wanted him to know.

               

“Make yourself something to eat when you get hungry.” She said putting away the breakfast dishes.

               

“You can go outside but only the back yard. The men will be coming later this week to put up the front fence.” She hollered from the living room as she helped Louis search for his shoes.

 

“I’ll be home late but Lou should be here in the afternoon, so you won’t be alone when it gets dark.” She was checking through her purse now to make sure she had everything she needed. He followed her to the door, feeling a bit sad. He’d never been alone before and this was for several hours. She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, while Louis tapped his foot impatiently behind her, “Come on mum, we’ll be late.”

 

Jay ignored him, “Now just relax and make yourself at home. This is your home now, Harry. We’ll both be home later. Okay?”

 

He nodded and hugged her back, as she was stepping out the door she turned back, “And lock the door behind us and don’t answer it OR the phone.”

 

“Okay.” He smiled at her, already figuring this out on his own, but not minding the reminder. After she and Louis had left he closed and locked the door tightly just like she asked.

 

Being alone in the house wasn’t as bad as Harry thought, considering he sleeps most of the day. He looks at the clock, the one sits on top of the TV, while he watches some daytime drama and realizes he has possibly slept half the day away. In-between napping he took a shower, watched more day time TV and made himself lunch. It was actually nice, quiet and he was feeling more at ease than he has felt since he first got there. Jay has been wonderful, there was no question of that, but Louis had been cold and distant and when he did acknowledge Harry, he had this look in his eyes that Harry had never seen before. It didn’t seem the nicest of looks, almost hungry, but that didn’t make sense, humans don’t eat hybrids.

 

Harry is just feeling himself drift off again, really being home alone is starting to feel a bit boring, when he hears the front door being unlocked. His ears immediately perk up and he turns toward the sound, eyes wide and bright. He plasters a bright smile on his face, excited to greet the person who is coming home. When Louis’ brown hair first shows itself and Harry is hit with his unmistakable smell, he slumps a bit in his seat but keeps the smile on his face. Louis’ eyes fall on Harry and his to bright smile, he arches an eyebrow at him and gives him a quick nod. Louis’ black framed glasses sliding down his nose a bit before he pushes them back up and goes through the dining room door without saying a word.

 

Harry turns back to the TV sinking further into the couch, arms crossing and a frown making an appearance. He had hoped that with some alone time maybe Louis would warm up to him. But that didn’t seem like it that was going to happen anytime soon. He goes back to watching the show, more like staring at screen while his mind wanders to the blue eyed boy and why he didn’t seem to want to get to know Harry at all. He spreads himself out on the couch figuring he might as well just nap again until Jay comes home, she talks to him at least. Harry tries to rest his eyes and mind but Louis is making an awful lot of noise in the kitchen. There are loud bangs and some curses being tossed around and Harry’s ears perk back up. He sits there a moment just listening to the commotion trying to decipher what is actually going on, there is a loud metallic bang before all his quiet. Harry is slightly worried now and extremely curious so under the pretense (or that’s what he tells himself) of going to make sure Louis is alright, he gets up and goes through the dining room and into the kitchen. He stops himself, still pushing the door open with one hand. Louis is bent over, hands grasping the counter as he stares intensely at an unopened brownie mix box that he has put in a square metal pan and Harry can’t keep his eyes off of the perfectly round bum.

 

“Uh, Louis? What are you doing?” Harry surprises himself, not realizing he actually could talk through his bum induced haze.

 

“Trying to see if I can force this brownies to make themselves. What does it look like?!” Louis stands up straight whirling on Harry, arms crossed, eyes shooting dagger at him.

 

Harry takes a small step back and scratches the back of his neck, it’s his first time talking to Louis and he isn’t sure what exactly is going on, “There are…uh…directions on the box. I think. I mean there usually is.”

 

Louis throws his hands up and turns back toward the counter, he picks up the metal pan and bangs it on the counter, brownie box falling out and onto the floor, “I know there are directions, Harry.” Harry feels his face heat up at hearing Louis say his name even if it is angry, “That is not the point,” Louis continues,

 

“I don’t know how to use the damn oven. Last time I tried I nearly burnt down the kitchen. All I want is some stupid brownies.” Louis’ head hangs down between his arms after his rush of words, he looks so sad and so defeated that Harry can’t, NOT help. He walks around the little island and picks up the box that fell to the floor, “I know how to make brownies. I can….um….. make them for you, if you want?”

Louis’ face shoots up and he looks at Harry with a smile that is so bright it would make the sun set in shame, at least that’s what Harry thinks.

 

“Would you please?” His eyes pleading and who is Harry to say no.

 

“Yeah sure no problem” he smiles warmly at Louis, who is looking a lot more calm now.

 

“Uh…Thanks.”

 

Louis steps back and leans against the island counter top, “I didn’t know hybrids could cook,” he says after a moment of silence between them.

 

“I don’t think a lot do actually, but Anne always used to let me help and taught me a lot as well.” Harry replies, while turning the box over and looking over the back. And his hopes of impressing Louis die when he realizes this one only has the instructions written, _“Why?”_ he thinks to himself, gripping the box tightly, _“every other stupid brownie mix has pictures!”_ Louis' standing behind his back, watching him carefully and notices Harry's shoulders slump forward, he furrows his brows and is about to ask him what's the matter, when Harry turns and hold the box out to Louis, "Um, is there different box mix?"

 

"No, why? Is there something wrong with this one?"

 

"No, it’s just. Well there aren't any pictures and I can't read the directions." He's chewing his bottom lip nervously and Louis would much rather he be the one doing that, but he isn't saying that out loud, so he reaches out and takes the box from Harry.

 

"Hey, no problem I'll read them to you," Louis answers with a smile and a shrug.

 

Harry smiles back weakly, "I usually go off the pictures or Anne would tell me what to do."

 

Louis just shrugs again, "Reading I can do and bossing people around is a specialty of mine." His smile widens and Harry snickers.

 

Harry goes about getting out a mix bowl, measuring cups and a wooden spoon for mixing, while Louis hops up on to the island, holding the box and watching Harry.

 

"So how come you don't know how to read?" Louis asks, "Don't forget the eggs," he adds while reading over the instructions.

 

"I know that part at least," Harry says while going to the fridge to pull out the eggs, "Hybrids aren't taught to read."

 

"Why not?" Louis nods at the eggs, "you'll need 2 of those."

 

Harry turns around to look at Louis, staring straight into his eyes, "I guess they don't think we'll need it, reading isn't what we are really made for," he give Louis a keen look, whose eyes widen in understanding, "Oh" is all he says before shifting his eyes back down to the brownie mix. Harry is still looking at him though and his hand is outstretched toward Louis.

 

Louis looks back up, "What?"

 

Harry smirks, "I need the mix from the box."

 

"Oh," Louis laughs nervously. He rips open the top and pulls out the plastic bag inside and hands it over to him. Harry opens the bag then pours it into the bowl, he adds the eggs being careful not to get shell in the bowl.

 

"What next?" he looks over his shoulder at Louis, who shakes himself, he'd been staring at how surely Harry had cracked the eggs open, Louis would have had shells all over the place and yoke on his hands.

 

"Half a cup of oil"

 

"What kind of oil?"

 

"There is more than one kind of oil?"

Harry giggles, "Yeah, there's canola oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, extra _virgin olive oil"_

 

"EXTRA VIRGIN?" Louis is so confused, "how the hell do they know if the olive is a virgin? Let alone extra virgin? How can anything be extra virgin?"

 

Harry's laughing again, he doesn't think he's laughed this much in a while and he and Louis have only been chatting a few minutes. It makes him feel comfortable so when he says, "I don't think that's what they mean, Lou," the nick name slipping out of his mouth so easily and he doesn't notice till after he has said it. Louis notices and cocks an eyebrow up at him, "Well, _Harold_ , I'm not the cooking expert here am I? How am I supposed to know what they mean? If they didn't mean that it's never been fucked, then they should change the name."

 

Harry blushes furiously turning away from him quickly, "That's not my name," hearing Louis using such a dirty word combined with his teasing, makes Harry feel things he's not fully prepared for. Louis notices though and hops off the counter, coming up close behind him, leaning in and whispering in his ear,

 

"Maybe the oil isn't the only thing here that's _extra virgin_." Harry shivers, pressing himself up against the counter, trying to put some distance between him and Louis' warm body. Louis throws his head back and laughs before hoping back up on the island, "Just teasing, _Harold,"_ emphasizing the nickname, "it says vegetable oil, by the way."

 

Harry nods not trusting his voice and going over to the pantry to get out the oil, he adds the half a cup to the mix as well then picking up the spoon to mix it together.

 

"Hey! I forgot to tell you the box says you need to add a fourth cup of water as well."

 

"Thanks" Harry mutters he knew that he was forgetting something, he adds the water as well and goes baking to stirring the ingredients together.

 

They are both quiet for a bit while Harry works at the mix, "Could you turn on the oven?" Harry asks not turning away from the bowl.

 

Louis chews on his bottom lip, looking over at appliance, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

 

Harry sighs, putting the bowl down, "I'm sure you can manage that. You're just turning it on."

 

Louis shakes his head, "I almost burnt the house down last time, remember. I don't want to risk it."

 

"Fine," Harry doesn't mean to sound aggravated but Louis had teased him in a way he wasn't used to,

 

"What's the temp say?"

 

Louis looks back down at the box, "350 for 42 to 45 minutes." Harry nods and turns it on.

 

Once he's finished mixing everything together he pours it into the pan scraping off the sides to not waste anything, he goes to put it in the sink but Louis stops him, "WAIT! I wanna lick the bowl."

 

Harry scrunches his nose, "That's disgusting. There's raw egg in there, you could get sick."

 

Louis shrugs, getting down off the counter and coming over to bowl, "Never hurt me before."

 

Louis swipes his finger along the side, bringing it up to his lips, licking the batter off his finger before wrapping his thin pink lips around it sucking it clean, eyes closing as he hums in his enjoyment. Harry stares wide eyed and biting his lower lip, Louis pulling his finger out of his mouth as looked at Harry, looking at him innocently, Harry could scream, "it's good, you want some?" he swiped another steak through the chocolate mix and holds his finger out to Harry, smiling at him. Harry thinks about it, really wants to stick that finger in his mouth and lick it clean. But at the last second changes his mind and grabs the wooden spoon shoving it into his mouth, smiling around it, dimples popping out.

 

"Greedy," Louis says with a smirk, eyes wandering over Harry's face. Harry pulls the spoon out of his mouth giving it a lick while looking at him, making Louis breath hitch in this throat. Harry chuckles to himself before licking the spoon again.

 

"What's so funny?" Louis demands after cleaning off his finger.

 

Harry shakes his head, "Nothing. Just good," waving the spoon in between them, still with the dimpled smile on his face.

 

"hmmmm" Louis hums around his finger, sticking his other hand in the bowl.

 

"You're going to be a mess if you keep doing that." Harry says using the spoon to point at Louis' left hand in the bowl and the right in his mouth.

 

"Oh really? I doubt that I'll be any messier than you." He says, and before Harry could get out his question as to what he means, Louis uses his chocolate covered finger to poke one of Harry's dimples.

 

Louis burst out laughing, eyes crinkling up at the sides at Harry's surprised and indigent expression, while distracted by his own laughing, Louis doesn’t notice how Harry scrapse the bowl with his spoon so wasn't quick enough to stop him from bopping Louis on the nose with it. Now Harry is the one who is laughing his barking laugh that usually would have him feeling embarrassed, "You look like an angry bunny," he chortles while clutching at his sides. 

 

"Angry bunny? That's it! Game on." Louis crows smearing his hands around in the bowl, Harry's eyes widened seeing the mess covering his hands. He tries backing away, "No, no, no," hands facing palm up towards Louis, who was only wiggling his eyebrows up and down and stalking closer to Harry.

 

"I'm not the one who's part animal here, Harry," his voice low and predatory, Harry's widen even further if that was even possible, "But you do seems to be missing something, little kitty." He says while snapping his chocolate covered fingers together causing the mix to splatter across the side of his face and Harry giggles, which was a bad choice because then Louis is pouncing on him yelling, "WHISKERS!" The weight of his body hitting Harry causing the younger boy to fall backwards, luckily his back hits the fridge but it doesn’t stop him from sliding down as he tries to keep Louis hands away from his face to no avail. Louis has him pinned down with Harry's back against the fridge, Louis straddling his thighs and he has somehow been able to wrap his hand around Harry's wrists smearing the chocolate across his skin, while the other drew chocolate whiskers on his face. Once he is done Louis sits back, admiring his work, resting his weight on Harry's knees and smiling down at him, releasing his wrists as well.

 

"See! Now you look like a proper kitten."

 

Harry huffed, "Bugger off."

 

"Oh is the kitty mad?" Louis giggles

 

"No" Harry scowls at him

 

"Aw, the kitty shouldn't be mad. He has such a pretty smile."

 

Harry turns his face looking at Louis, "Yeah?" a tiny smile playing at the corner of his lips

 

"Yeah" Louis says voice coming out slightly breathless, they stared at each other for a moment while the realization that Louis was sitting on Harry's lap started to creep out into the open and how very close Louis' face is to Harry's, their breath mixing in the air between them. Louis licks his lips, eyes darting down to Harry's plush ones then back up to his green eyes, a question there. One that Harry isn’t sure how to answer but knew that he did want to answer it. Louis leans forward and Harry closed his eyes, waiting.

 

Then a sudden and loud beeping breaks them out of the spell and Louis immediately jumps up and off

Harry, looking around frantically like they had just been caught doing something they shouldn't.

 

"That'd be the oven." Harry says pulling himself up off the floor, hand gripping the counter.

 

"I know what that was," sound annoyed. Harry moves around him and puts the brownies in the oven and setting the timer, "They should be done in a while."

 

"Yeah okay" Louis looks down at his hands and then up at Harry's face before laughing again, "We are a mess."

 

Harry nods, smiling too, the awkward moment fading away with their laughter, "Yeah we are. I'm gonna go get cleaned up while they bake."

 

Louis had already moved over to the sink to wash his hands off, "Okay, if you aren't back before they are done. I'll pull them out."

 

"Are you sure you can handle that?" Harry asked.

 

"Yes, and I can even remember to turn off the oven too."

 

Harry gives him a crooked grin before exiting the kitchen, sighing to himself.

 

Louis stands at the sink long after he is done washing his hands, gripping it tightly after Harry left, _"What just happened?"_ he thought to himself, _"Get a grip Tomlinson. He's 14! He's a fucking baby!"_ Louis needed to be careful, he didn't want to do anything Harry didn't want and Harry was too young to understand or know what he would want. _"I just need to ignore those stupid curls, and stupid eyes and stupid, stupid dimples."_

_"Good luck with that"_ another voice in his head rings out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are much appereciated. XX
> 
> As always I am [dumb](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com) but you love me anyway
> 
> *NOTE* Louis is 16, i went back and changed part of Chapter 3 to fit that in. I hope i didn't confuse anyone. And I am sorry for not realizing this sooner.


	5. I wanna be here and nowhere else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frankly, I don't know what's going on anymore. This is just ridiculously fluffy. I can't seem to stop it. 
> 
> I wanted to say thank you for sticking with me through my delayed updates. The month of May is almost over and I can get back to regular updates. YAY!!!
> 
> Thanks to the lovely [theycalluslarrystylinson](http://theycalluslarrystylinson.tumblr.com) for always helping and listening to me moan about the amount of fluff in this fic. 
> 
> This is the song I got inspiration from for this chapter.  
> "Here is a Heart" by Jenny Owen Youngs

It took Harry longer to get cleaned up than he originally planned. He starts by simply washing his face off in the upstairs bathroom, but quickly decided to just get in the shower. Louis said he'd watch the brownies and Harry needed a cold shower to help get rid of the feeling of Louis sitting on his thighs. Which at first didn't help because he was naked, and what if Louis had sat on him naked?! He turned the temperature down even more, blasting himself with cold water and shocking him enough to get his mind away from those thoughts.

 

When he was done, he went back down to the kitchen, he was surprised to find Louis sitting at the table the pan of brownies already in front of him as well as his school books, a fork in one hand and a pen in the other.

 

"I didn't think I was up there long enough for those to be done," Harry said pointing at the pan.

 

"Done enough for me," Louis emphasized his point by shoving another piece into his mouth.

 

Harry walks around the island to get a fork out of the silverware drawer passing the oven, it's still on, "Louis, you left the oven on." Harry shuts it off quickly looking exasperated.

 

"Oops," He says around the fork, "told you I almost burnt the house down last time."

 

"I can see why," after getting a fork Harry goes to join him at the table. He scoops a bit of brownie out, seeing that Louis has already eaten a fourth of the pan.

 

"Lou," Harry whines as he sees that the brownies are in fact not entirely done, "How can you eat these? They're practically mush." He plops the gooey mess back in the pan, putting his fork on the table.

 

"No they aren't, they're fudgy," He looks up from his book smiling at Harry, his teeth are stained brown and it makes Harry laugh.

 

"What?" He asks

 

Harry motions at his mouth while he laughs, "You’ve got brownie in your teeth."

 

Louis frowns, but sticks his tongue, that's stained with chocolate as well, at him. Harry covers his mouth this time trying to hide his smile.

 

"So, why'd you want to make brownies anyway?" He says around a chuckle.

 

Louis sighs, looking up from the paper he had been writing on, "Well, I got a test score back and I failed. Then had to stay after to talk to the teacher. Apparently, if I don't start making more of an effort and turning my grades around I'm going to fail the class."

 

"Oh," is all Harry can think at the moment to say, but adds, "I'm sorry you are having trouble with your class. Wish I knew of a way to help."

 

Louis sits back in his seat, eyeing Harry closely, "Hmmm, actually you might be able to. If you really want?"

 

Harry nods enthusiastically, curls bouncing around his face, "Yeah, I'd love to. I mean I don't know much about school but I'll help any way I can."

 

"Luckily for you and me, its home economics," Louis chuckles, "my mom suggested I take it after I burnt a whole loaf of bread trying to make cheese toasties. And so far I haven't learned shit and I'm failing."

 

Harry smiles and uses his fork to push the gooey brownies around, "Yeah I can see that."

 

Louis narrows his eyes at him, "Criticizing me isn't very helpful, Harold."

 

"I know that, _Lewis_ ," Harry rolls his eyes.

 

Both are quiet for a moment, Harry watches Louis, fearing he may have upset him and Louis is poking the brownies methodically.

 

"So you'll teach me how to cook?" He finally says not looking up.

 

"Yeah, sure. I can try."

 

"Thanks," he says finally looking up and smiling at Harry.

 

"First things first. We throw away these before you get salmonella."

 

"What? No! I was gonna eat those," his fork hanging in midair from when he was about to scoop out more.

 

"Yeah I know. That's why I'm tossing them."

 

"Lesson number one, if the mix says 42 minutes. You keep it in the oven for 42 minutes," Harry says as he dumps the undercooked brownies in the trash, then putting the pan in the sink and filling it with water.

 

Louis tosses his fork down on the table and throws his hands up, "Fine, fine you're the expert."

 

"Compared to you, I am." Harry washes the pan then puts it away, "So when do you wanna get started?"

 

"Well, I gotta finish this stuff," he waves his hand over the work he has in front of him, "but maybe we can make dinner? For my mum, I know she'd appreciate it." He looks at Harry hopefully.

 

Harry smiles, he has been wanting to do something nice for Jay since they had their talk, "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. We'll do something simple, like spaghetti."

 

"Sounds good," he smiles at Harry, "this first, okay?"

 

Harry nods, "I’m just gonna go watch TV, let me know when you're ready to cook."

 

Louis nods and goes back to his school work and Harry goes to watch whatever show he can find and not think about how excited he is to spend more time with Louis.

 

\------------------------------------------

 

 

The next few days pass in a similar fashion, Harry is has the house to himself for the day until Louis comes home. After Louis does his regular school work, he and Harry get to work in the kitchen, making different things for dinner and occasionally making a dessert too. Harry feels that since they haven’t set anything of fire it’s turning out to be a success. Except Harry feels he is hindered in his teaching ability by the fact that he can’t read, it’s hard to show someone how to do something when they are constantly having to read the instructions for you and Harry would very much like to look up recipes and how to make them before Louis gets home.

 

So, Harry sets about trying to teach himself and it turns out it’s a lot harder than he thought. He knows the letters in his name but that’s it and he isn’t sure exactly how they translate into sounds. He looks through the bookshelf and finds an old picture book with the corners torn, he can tell it’s a simple book, maybe even one Louis would look at when he was a child. Harry gets comfortable in the arm chair, tucking his feet underneath him and his tail laying over the side, he opens it up and the first page is a picture of a big red apple and in the corner is a letter, one that he recognizes from his name. He’s pretty pleased with himself, that he knows it’s an “A”, but when he turns to the next page there’s a balloon and another letter he doesn’t know and he frowns at himself. He loses track of the time as he goes through the book, looking at the pictures and saying them out loud, trying to put the beginning sound with the letter on the page but doesn’t know what the actual letter is called. He is so engrossed in the letter book he doesn’t hear Louis come home which is amazing considering he has cat ears but he really is stumped over the Queen picture, the letter is just strange looking.

 

Louis comes in and finds Harry curled up in the armchair, tail slowly waving from side to side and his old alphabet book in Harry’s lap.

 

“Harry? What are you doing?” He asks and he puts his bag down.

 

Harry jumps closing the book as fast as possible and trying to shove it between him and the seat. Louis looks at him questioningly, “I’ve already seen the thing, no reason to hide it.”

 

“Oh,” is all Harry says as he pulls it back out, Louis comes over to him and sits down on the coffee table.

 

“Soooooo, are you going to tell me what’s up with the book?”

 

Harry sighs feeling defeated and a bit humiliated, “I was trying to understand the letters, so that I could learn to read.” Louis is still looking at him and Harry can’t stop his mouth, “You’re just so smart and I wanna teach you how to cook but you have to read all the directions and recipes for me and I don’t think that’s……..that’s helping you. And I wanna be smart like you too.”

 

Louis smiles at him and reaches over to pat Harry’s knee, “You are smart Harry. You may not be able to read but you are smart.”

 

“Yes, well, not book smart.” Harry frowns down at his lap and he notices Louis hasn’t removed his hand.

 

“That’s easily enough fixed,” he does move his hand but only to grab the book out of Harry’s lap.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“How about we do a trade,” Louis is flipping through the pages and smiling at them.

 

“A trade? What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, little kitty,” Louis says holding the book up and waving it a bit, “you’re teaching me to cook and I’ll teach you to read.”

 

Harry can’t help that his eyes widen in surprise, “Are you serious?”

 

Louis nods, Harry leans over and whispers, eyes shifting around, like there might be other people who’ll mysteriously appear in the empty room, “Isn’t that, like, illegal?”

 

Louis shrugs, “Maybe, but I don’t really care. Not like anyone is gonna find out.”

 

Harry bites his bottom lip and Louis wants to tug it back out but keeps his hands to himself, “What if Jay finds out?”

 

Louis smiles sweetly, “Honestly H, I don’t think she would care, probably be proud of you.”

 

Harry takes a minute to think it over and takes a steading breath, “Okay, but as long as you really want to.”

 

“Trust me Harry, I really want to,” Louis states looking him in his eyes.

 

After them agreeing to this trade they fall into a new routine, Harry teaches Louis how to make something and then after dinner they settle down in the living room and go through Louis’ old children’s books. They start off with the alphabet book that Harry had found, wanting to get him used to seeing the letters and knowing what they are, then progressing to having him practice writing the letters and repeating the sounds. Harry mentions to Louis one day that writing wasn’t part of their agreement but Louis just shrugs and says it’ll help him learn to read faster, Harry isn’t too sure but goes along with it anyway. Harry notices that him and Louis are spending most of their time together when Louis is home, whether it’s in the kitchen going over a recipe, in the living room teaching Harry to read or just lounging around in the back yard chatting about Louis’ day at school or his friends or what it was like for Harry growing up in Anne’s house.

 

“Do you miss it?” Louis asks one day, while they lay on their back in the grass watching the clouds.

 

“Miss what?”

 

“Miss Anne’s?”

 

“Sometimes, I mean, I miss Anne and my best mate Ed but it’s nice here. I don’t think I could ask for better,” Harry answers honestly.

 

The only times Louis isn’t around are when he goes to school or on the occasional Saturday night when he goes out with his friends and sometimes stays overnight there. Harry misses him when he isn’t around but takes comfort knowing he will be back and until then he has Jay who likes to pet behind his ears. Louis has yet to pet him and he doesn’t understand why and he isn’t going to bringing it up. But that issues gets solved all on its own on a Friday night.

 

A nasty storm had been going on since late morning and had caused some bad accidents and Jay had been asked to stay through the night shift at the hospital to help out. And Louis had gone over to his friend’s house to have dinner before coming home, so Harry had been home alone a lot longer than normal. The loud thunder had been hurting his ears and the rain wouldn’t let up. He had stayed curled up in a ball all day in his bed but as soon as Louis was home, he ran down the stairs as fast as he could and threw himself into Louis’ arms.

 

“Whoa there kitten. What’s the matter?” Louis wrapped his arms around Harry automatically, rubbing his back.

 

Harry sniffs away his tears, “The storm, it hurts my ears and the lightening scares me.” He rubs his face in Louis’ neck, so happy to have someone, to have Louis, here with him. He didn’t realize until just then how safe Louis makes him feel and it unsettles him a bit but he won’t let go of Louis. Louis tries tugging his arms off but Harry just squeezes tighter.

 

“Oh, man. I’m sorry for being late. I had no idea.” He rubs soothing circles into Harry’s back, “Come on H, let’s go sit on the couch. I’ll make us some of that cocoa you showed me and then we’ll have a cuddle.”

 

“No, I wanna go with you,” Harry pouts.

 

“Wouldn’t you rather snuggle up with a blanket, while I make it?”

 

“No, too scared.”

 

“Okay but you are gonna have to let go of me.”

 

Harry sighs and gives Louis one final squeeze before reluctantly releasing him and Louis chuckles. They walk into to the kitchen and Harry sits on the counter to watch Louis as he makes the cocoa.

 

“Have you eaten today?” Louis asks as he puts the pot of milk on the stove but doesn’t turn it on.

 

“No, haven’t felt hungry.”

 

“Do you want me to make you a cheese toastie? I think I have almost perfected it.”

 

Harry nods and Louis goes to get the bread, cheese and butter. He makes quick work of the toastie and gives it to Harry so he will eat it while Louis finishes the cocoa. The fall into a comfortable silence after that and even though Harry still flinches every time the lightning flashes he feels better just having Louis in the room with him. Once Harry is finished with his snack and the cocoa is done they make their way back into the living room carrying the mugs. Louis sits down first, placing his mug on the table and pats the seat next to him, Harry puts his mug down next to his and crawls into the space next to Louis, resting his head on Louis’ shoulder. Louis pulls the blanket off the back and throws it over the two of them before grabbing his mug then putting the other arm around the younger lad. Harry gets his mug before snuggling further against him, feeling warm and safe for the first time today, he sighs as his body starts to relax.

 

“Have you been scared all day?” Louis finally asks, bring his mug to his lips to take a sip.

 

Harry brings his mug down from his lips, leaving a little chocolate mustache before he licks his lips, wiping it away, “Yeah,” he looks at his drink, feeling embarrassed for being so afraid, and his cheeks flush.

 

“Aww, hey, it’s okay to be afraid kitten. It’s a really bad storm.” Louis says, and brings his hand up from around Harry to rub one of his right cat ear, fingers rubbing the one orange spot on the tip of the chocolate brown, the left ear is completely brown. It’s a spot Louis has been craving to touch for a while, eyes always falling at that one lone bright spot in the mess of dark brown, but this is the first time he has allowed himself too.

 

It feels incredible, Harry always enjoys a good pet but having Louis do it, makes his body feel electric and when Louis moves his hand to start scratching behind the same ear Harry can’t help the purr that comes from inside. He has been stressed all day and Louis is making all of that melt away. Louis startles, his body going tense and Harry immediately stops purring.

 

Louis stills his hand, “I didn’t know you purred.”

 

Harry turns his face to the side, rubbing his cheek against his own shoulder, another wave of embarrassment rolls through him, “I am part cat,” he states plainly.

 

Louis licks his lips looking at Harry’s profile and wills his own body to relax, he’d never heard anything so sexy before and he needs to get in control, “Yeah…that’s….that’s cool. Just didn’t know that. Surprised me, is all.” And Louis goes back to scratching Harry’s ears and then occasionally running his fingers through Harry’s curls. They don’t talk after that both drinking their cocoa and Harry feeling his body starting to drift off to sleep, low purring humming through his body, the storm had kept him awake during the times that he normally would have napped, he was feeling exhausted.

 

He feels himself drifting off with Louis pressed up close and the cocoa making his belly warm. His eyes flutter once more and he whispers into Louis neck, “Thanks, Lou,” before he falls asleep, face pushed against the skin at the base of Louis’ neck, breathing the comfort of his smell in.

 

It’s dark when Harry’s eyes flash open, he isn’t sure what exactly woke him up or how he got into his bed, but then a bright flash of light and a crack of thunder echo around him and he knows the storm has gotten even worse and the loud sounding thunder is the cause of him being awake. He lays there for a few minutes trying to fight his fear but the next round is even louder than the last so he bolts up out of the bed and sets to go look through the house to find Louis. When he exits his room he notices that there isn’t any lights coming from down stairs and when he passes by Louis’ room he sees a light coming from underneath the door, he walks over to it hesitantly and then knocks lightly.

“Come in,” Louis says from the other side and Harry opens the door, Louis looks up from his laptop, that he has set on his legs, “Hey, what are you doing up?” he asks Harry.

 

“The storm woke me,” Harry bites his lip looking around the room nervously, he’d never been in here before, the walls are painted blue and there are posters of bands and footballers on the walls, along with a collage of pictures, across from the bed is a desk and chair with a dresser next to it, and Louis’ window is on the opposite side of the room and Louis’ much larger bed is pushed up right against it.

 

Louis closes the lap top and sets it on the side table before scooting over closer to the window before patting the now vacant spot, Harry smiles relieved that he didn’t even need to ask, and hops on the bed next to Louis.

 

“Thanks,” he says, stretching out his body and Louis’ breath hitches, eyes roaming over the long lines of Harry’s body.

 

“Uh…no…no problem,” He scoots a little further back, putting plenty of space between them.

 

"So, what are you doing?" Harry asks, eyes lashes fluttering while he stifles a yawn.

 

"You're tired, we should sleep," Louis reaches down to grab the comforter, pulling it up and covering them both. Harry shakes his head, "Nah, I won't be able to fall asleep with the storm going on," he motions at his cat ears, "It's all they can focus on. They're pretty sensitive sometimes, especially if there isn't any other noise going on."

 

Louis tiltes his head to study Harry's face and ears, "I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

 

Harry shrugs, "S'not your fault."

 

"Still, that's got to suck."

 

Harry scrunches his forehead, faint wrinkles popping out, "Isn't not all bad. I can hear things with my cat ears that you can't with just your human ears."

 

"Like what?" Louis is genuinely curious.

 

"Well," Harry bites his lip, pulling it in with one of his sharp cat teeth as he thinks, "I hear you exercising in the mornings."

 

Louis is confused, "Exercising? What are you talking about?"

 

Harry looks up at him, from where he still stretched out on Louis' bed, "Well, yeah. I mean, I can hear you breathing heavy, sometimes grunting. What else could you be doing? AND!” he says excitedly, snapping his fingers, “You go take a shower after."

 

Louis' eyes widen in horror at what Harry is saying, his face flushing red. Harry is looking at him with his innocent face full of confusion and there is no way in hell Louis is going to correct him. Knowing that as of late, it's Harry he is thinking about when he is "exercising."

 

"Ha, ha, you caught me." Louis says, hoping to cover up the lie. It seems to work because Harry looks pleased with himself for figuring it out.

 

"What else can you pick up with those things?" Louis really hopes it's not something else about him.

 

Harry's face lights up seeing that Louis wants to know more about him or at least his ears, he wants to think of something good and chews his lip again. Louis reaches up, unthinkingly, with his thumb and pulls Harry's lip out from between his sharp teeth, "Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." His voice is soft almost a whisper as he says it, eyes trained on the swollen bottom lip.

 

Harry smiles at him shyly, suddenly caught up with Louis' touching his lips and forgetting what he was going to say, "Sorry," he whispers, his lips moving against the pad of Louis’ thumb. Louis quickly pulls his hand away and turning his head to look out the window, Harry frowns, he wants Louis to go back to touching his lips but he won't ask. Deciding to answer Louis' question hoping to break the awkwardness that is starting to surround them.

 

His mind is blank, he can't for the life of him think of what he hears that might interest Louis, normally he'd be able to list off things like the coffee maker dripping, or when water is about to boil but those seem all boring and he wants something interesting, wants to break whatever trances Louis has fallen into, one that makes him not look at Harry.

 

Without thinking it through properly he blurts out, "I can hear when the neighbors are having sex."

 

And that does it, Louis' head snaps back around looking at Harry, laughing with a “What?" falling from his mouth, almost disbelieving.

 

"I can! They aren't very quiet and there room is across from my window."

 

"Yeah but they are like 15 feet away! And through a wall!"

 

Harry shrugs, "That's nothing." Louis' is just blinking at him at now, face shocked.

 

"It only works when I'm concentrating. But I think I heard up to 25 feet away. Not sure exactly but we didn't have a measuring tape with us."

 

Now Louis really can’t believe it, "When? How could you possibly."

 

Louis settles down next to Harry, laying his head on the pillow, so they are facing each other comfortably, now it was Louis' turn to yawn.

 

Harry looks at him, “I’ll tell you some other time, you’re tired we should sleep." Harry repeating Louis' words from early.

 

"No, I’m not sleepy,” he says right before he yawns again.

Harry laughs, “Tomorrow.”

 

“Tell me,” he whines, “I wanna know,” and tacks on a “please,” when Harry doesn’t seem convinced.

 

“Okay,” and Harry relents, he launches into the story of the time that Anne had taken them all out to a park that had this huge hedge maze. Harry had gotten distracted following a butterfly instead of staying with the group (Louis had rolled his eyes at that and Harry had playfully smacked his arm) and he ended up lost. He'd been wandering around alone for an hour scared until he could hear voices. At first he thought they were close and got himself even more lost trying to find them but he finally realized his cat ears where picking up the voices from a lot further away, he had focused all his energy to tune them in and was able to follow them until he was out.

 

"That's amazing," Louis says once the story is over.

 

Harry preens at his words and a blush creeping ups his face, "Not really. It's not really something normal people can do. You can get in a lot of trouble overhearing things you aren't supposed to."

 

Louis pushes his shoulder, "That's ridiculous, you are way better than normal. Normal is boring.  And you being able to do that with your ears, really _is_ amazing."

 

Harry smiles at him, dimples popping out and Louis pokes one, he can't help it, they are just as amazing Harry's ears. Harry's green eyes shift from looking into Louis' blue and out to the window, "I think the storm has finally passed."

 

Louis turns his head to look out the window, "Yeah, seems like it."

 

Harry makes to get out of the bed, pushing the blanket down, "I guess I'll go back and try to get some sleep."

 

Louis grabs his wrist holding him still, "No, it might come back. Then I'll be right here to help."

 

Harry looks down at Louis' face, he has a crease on his cheek from laying on the pillow so long and Harry really wants to kiss him, "If you're sure."

 

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now pull the blanket back up, I'm cold."

 

Harry lays back down and complies, resting his head back on the pillow, eyes falling on to Louis as Louis tries to bury himself further into the bed, eyes starting to close.

 

Harry whispers as Louis slowly starts to drift of, "Hey Lou?"

 

Louis’ thin pink lips making a perfect oval when he yawns, small pink tongue darting out quickly, "Huh?"

 

"Just, uh, thanks for this."

 

"For what?" he mumbles into the pillow.

 

"For letting me stay."

 

"No problem, curly. Now shut up, tryin' to sleep here."

 

Harry chuckles but doesn't say anymore, he closes his eyes and tries to will himself to sleep and at first that doesn't really work because he can feel Louis' breathing little puffs of air that fall on Harry's cheek and it's the most wonderful sensation he has ever had but it's distracting as well. He does eventually fall asleep mind still pondering how he could be so lucky to have found such a nice family.

 

Around three am, Jay comes home from her late shift and goes up to check on the boys. She goes to Harry's room first, having been worried about how he handled the storm but when she goes into his room and sees he isn't there she panics. Jay rushes over to Louis' room wanting to wake him and find out what happened and get him up to help her look for the little hybrid. She busts into the room ready to yell and shake Louis' but abruptly stops in her tracks because there is Harry laying in Louis' bed asleep, with Louis asleep lying next to him, both on their sides facing each other. Jay can't help but smile at the sweet picture they make. One of them, probably Louis', had kicked the blanket down and Jay goes over to tuck them in, as she pulls it up her eyes catch on their hands. Both have a hand lying flat on the mattress, fingers pressed together, all but the pinky, each identically pointed slightly out as if they were reaching for each other in their sleep and ended only an inch or two apart. Her lips curve up, while covering their mirrored hands. Jay runs a hand through Harry's curls and brushes Louis' fringe off his head before leaving them and closing the door behind her. As she goes to bed she thinks, happily, that she knew that Harry and Louis would get a long, she just didn't realize how well and she goes to sleeping with thoughts of her two sweet boys on her mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ME](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com)


	6. You are a rock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay here is Chapter 6!  
> Thank you for sticking with me through this. :)
> 
> A few things first. I am posting 2 chapters tonight because I am going on vaca. For 3 weeks. I am so sorry. I know my updates are slow and I just realized my vaca was next week. YESTERDAY!!!! Omg, I'm dumb....but we already discussed this.
> 
> Anyway I'm posting 2 tonight as an "I'm sorry" and hoping to make up for it. 
> 
> The song for this chapter is "Green Eyes" by Coldplay 
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

 

When Louis wakes up the sun is directly in his face and he thinks briefly, how odd it is because it’s hitting him all wrong, but when he rolls over, he bumps into a warm body. He startles for a moment before blinking his eyes and seeing Harry’s sleeping face, lips red, curls tangled and pressed awkwardly against the pillow and creases in his face from where it laid against the crinkled pillow case.  A lone curl has fallen across his eyes and Louis’ hand moves on its own to brush it back and stick it behind Harry’s ear. He stops himself when he finds his fingers splaying out, pushing into the curls to feel the silky smoothness run across his skin, he pulls his hand out quickly and slips quietly out of the bed, hoping not disturb Harry while he sleeps.

Louis tip toed out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom, he relieved himself and then washed his hands before splashing cool water on his face. Louis needs to calm the fuck down, he can’t go about caressing the boy every chance he gets, that is just wrong. He takes deep steading breathes before straightening himself up and going down stairs to find breakfast, him and Harry haven’t started working on breakfast foods yet but he can make toast without burning down the house, which he counts as a win. When he gets in the kitchen his mother is standing by the sink filling up the kettle, she hears the door open and turns her head over her shoulder, “Morning, Boo. How did you sleep?”

 

He scratches his head, “fine, fine.”

 

Her tone sounds normal but he isn’t sure if she saw Harry in his bed and what she might think of that. He goes over to the bread and pulls out two slices and pops them in the toaster while his mum moves to the stove, setting the kettle down and turning on the burner. Louis tapping his fingers against the counter not turning around.

 

Jay clears her throat, “So, I wanted to talk to you about Harry.”

 

Louis’ fingers stop drumming, “What about Harry?” He tries to keep his voice steady.

 

“I just wanted to say thank you.”

 

“What?!” Louis turns around facing his mother, shock clear on his face.

 

“You have really turned around since he got here. And he’s lonely.”

 

Louis raises an eyebrow at her, he isn’t sure she should be thanking him for anything, not with the thoughts he has about the hybrid, “You don’t need to thank me. I should be apologizing.” He says hoping to assuage his guilty.

 

Jay smiles at him, “Yes you should but that’s over and done with,” she waves her hand to bat away the words. The toast pops up from behind Louis and he moves to get the plates but Jay is already there pulling them down, “I would like to know,” and here it is Louis thinks, “Why he was sleeping in your room?” She doesn’t sound mad just curious.

 

“He was scared of the storm,” it’s true, so he doesn’t see any problem in telling her.

 

The kettle whistles and Jay moves away to grab three mugs, bringing down the tea with them, “I’m glad you were here for him,” Louis is buttering the toast and looks over seeing his mother smiling at him.

 

“Me too.” He nods his head in agreement, his mother opens her mouth to say more but then Harry is coming into the room and the conversation stops. Instead they both greet him warmly and offer him toast and tea.

 

After that, it doesn’t become a thing, okay maybe it does but it isn’t every night. Just on nights that there is a storm, or Harry’s feeling particularly lonely and the times they stay up late watching a movie or talking and Harry falls asleep and Louis doesn’t have the heart to wake him and ask him to go to his own room. And Jay doesn’t always find them but when she does their hands are always in the same place on the bed as the first time, perfect mirrors, she always kisses them both fondly on their cheeks and doesn’t say anything about it the next day but looks at them with a brighter smile than the day before.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Harry had been living with Jay and Louis for about 3 months now and he was really starting to feel like this was his home. He had moved in at the tail end of summer and fall was upon them now, they days shorter, nights longer and a lot more cuddles on the couch with blankets much to Harry’s delight. Most nights, after supper, the three of them ended up on the sofa in front of the TV, Harry wedged between Jay and Louis. Both of whom always found a way to have a hand on him, rubbing his back, carding their fingers through his curls or scratching behind his ear, he was in kitty heaven if he is perfectly honest.

 

This day was different than most, Louis had gone over to his friend Stan’s for dinner and to finish working on a project they had been assigned, Harry and Jay were on the couch together, his feet in her lap and his head resting on the armrest at the opposite end. He was just starting to drift off to sleep when the phone rang, Jay moved his feet from on top of her, putting them back on the cushions before going to answer it. Harry didn’t even move his head as he heard her muffled voice speaking to the person on the other end, he covered his mouth as he yawned and blinked his eyes slowly, thinking he should probably head up to his room, maybe if he slept a bit now he could sneak into to Louis’ room when he got home and watch the next episode of “Orange is the New Black,” it had become their favorite show.  He was just coming to his decision when Jay came back in, the phone receiver still in her hands, holding it against her chest.

 

“Harry,” she said brightly, a big smile on her face.

 

Harry lifted his head up and smiled back, “Hmm?”

 

“I have a surprise for you.”

 

Harry sat up, pulling his legs under himself, he loved surprised, “What is it?” His cat ears perking up excitedly, tail swishing back and forth behind him.

 

Jay sat down on the cushion and put the phone on the coffee table, “I just got a call from Graham,” Jay put her hand on one of his knees, squeezing gently, “And he and Ed would like to come over this weekend. If that’s okay with you.”

 

Harry jumped off the couch and started jumping up and down, whooping loudly.

 

Jay threw her head back and laughed, “I guess that mean you don’t mind.”

 

Harry stopped his celebrating and looked at her with his eyes wide, “Are you kidding? I can’t wait for them to get here,” he threw himself at her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight, “Thank you so, so much, Jay.”

 

She patted his back, “You don’t need to thank me Harry.”

 

Harry just squeezes her tighter, “But I am so thankful, Jay, for everything. You have been so wonderful,” Jay hugged him back and the both pulled away, Harry settling down on his end of the couch.

 

She smiled at him warmly, “I’m glad you think so, but really Harry you are just as wonderful. You’ve made our little family complete. So thank you.”

 

Harry smiled sheepishly and looked down at his hands, fiddling his thumbs, “So, um…when are they going to be here?” he tried and failed to keep his voice casual but his widening smile gave him away.

 

“Saturday. They’ll be here sometimes after lunch.”

 

Saturday was just a few days away and Harry couldn’t believe it, “This Saturday?” he questioned, the excitement building back up again. Jay nodded and Harry whooped again, stomping his feet on the cushions making them both bounce a little bit.

 

Jay laughed at his excitement, “If I knew you would be this excited I would have made sure they came over a lot sooner than now.”

 

“That’s okay. I’m just happy they get to come,” voice gone soft but not losing his excitement.

 

“Oh Harry,” Jay sighed, putting her hand on his shin, “I wish you could have felt comfortable in telling me how much you missed them. This is _your_ home, you are allowed to have people come and visit you.”

 

Harry didn’t know what to say to that, so he nodded, Jay narrowed her eyes at him, “I want you to be able to tell me anything, Harry.”

 

Harry chewed his bottom lip and stared at his hands not able to look at her, he hated to admit but it made him uncomfortable, she was giving him so much and he didn’t know how to handle that. Jay scooted closer to him on the couch, “Harry?”

 

He looked up at her, his eyes shiny with unshed tears, “Oh baby,” she said before pulling him into her arms, “What’s the matter kitten?”

 

He shook his head, “nothing?” he mumbled into her shoulder.

 

She chuckled, “Then why are you crying?”

 

“I’ve just never been so happy,” he clutched her tighter and she just held him, letting him expel his emotions, it wasn’t long before he cried himself out and pulled away. Jay had a huge wet spot on her shirt.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said wiping off his face with his hands.

 

“For what?” She asked confused, hands still on his arms.

 

“I got your shirt all wet.”

 

Jay patted his arm before standing up, “Nothing that a wash won’t fix. Feel better?” She looked down at him and he nodded, Jay carded her hand through his hair.

 

“I’m just gonna go change, okay?” She looked at him with concern, probably expecting him to burst into tears again, Harry nodded at her and she left the room to go upstairs. Harry really did feel a lot better and he had the visit from Ed coming up, Louis would be home soon and they’d go to his room to watch shows on his laptop and he lived with a wonderful woman who treated him like he was actually part of the family and not just a pet. Harry figured he couldn’t really ask for anything more and that his life with the Tomlinson’s was actually turning out pretty spectacular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ME](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com)  
>  come for a visit if you'd like


	7. The one thing I'm missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go for chapter 7, I hope everyone likes it and stays with me after my 3 week hiatus. Again I am sorry and will update as soon as I get back!
> 
> Song for this chapter "Eyes" by Rogue Wave  
> I love this song so much, always had and it gives me more emotions then I can handle.

The rest of the week dragged on for Harry, his excitement for the weekend clouded everything else. They’d be cooking in the kitchen and Harry’s mind would start to drift to all the things he wanted to talk to Ed about, he ended up burning the potatoes one night because he was so distracted, or the three of them would be crowed on the couch watching a movie and his leg would start to twitch and jiggle, Louis tried to stop his leg from bouncing by putting a hand on his knee but all that did was cause butterflies to abrupt in Harry’s stomach, he’d shoot off the couch claiming to need a snack. Jay and Louis would look at him confused but with fond smiles attributing his anxiety to the upcoming get together and not the warm feeling he got from Louis touching him.

 

By Saturday is anxiousness was almost out of control, Louis and Jay would have been more annoyed if it hadn’t manifested itself as Harry getting up early and making them a huge breakfast, he’d also clean the whole house yesterday just for something to do and Jay had kissed him on his cheeks in thanks.

 

“Jesus Harry,” Louis had breathed out upon walking into the kitchen and seeing the spread laid out before him, “There is only three of us!” There were piles of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and sausage.

 

Harry turned around, green eyes wide, a mixing bowl in the crook his arm, a whisk in his hand, “Sorry, I couldn’t stop,” there was dried egg in his hair and flour smudged across his flushed cheek, Louis had never seen him make this much of a mess of himself when he cooked and he couldn’t help the affectionate smile on his face.

 

Louis walked around the island to come stand next to Harry, “No need to be sorry, it looks fantastic. PLUS we won’t have to make breakfast for a week,” he reached out with his thumb and brushed the flour of Harry’s face, blue eyes meeting green, a flash of affection passing between them before Harry titled his head down smiling shyly.

 

“What ya got there?” Louis, looked in the bowl.

 

Harry titled mixture towards Louis so he could see better, “cupcakes.”

 

Quick as a whip Louis sticks his finger into it, just as Harry tries to get it away from him, pulling the batter behind his back and groans, “Don’t do that!”

 

Louis’ already got his batter covered finger in his mouth, “Tastes good though,” smiling devilishly.

 

Harry narrows his eyes, they battle over this every time they bake anything sweet, “RAW eggs, Lou, RAW eggs.”

 

Louis rolls his eyes, frustratingly in Harry’s opinion, “still tastes good,” he reaches around Harry trying to get his finger back in the batter. Harry screeches, “EWW stop, don’t double dip! These are for everyone.”

 

Louis changes tactics and turns his hand to tickles Harry’s waist, making him squeal with laughter, body hunching over and almost dropping the mix. “Oops, I got that for you,” Louis says, quickly grabbing the bowl out of his hands.

 

Harry gapes at him, “No fair,” he reaches out to grab the bowl back, “give it back,” but Louis holds it above their heads, standing on his tiptoes. At fourteen Harry is a bit shorter than him, so he can get away with this, he can tell with Harry’s long torso and big feet it won’t be much longer before he’s taller than Lou and he won’t be able to do this then so he has got to take advantage of it now.

 

“But I’m hungry,” Louis pouts at him, hands still in the air.

 

Harry narrows his eyes, face deadpan, waving a hand at the island, “Breakfast is right there.”

 

“I don’t want that, I want cupcakes.”

 

Harry purses his lips, eyeing Louis up and down, eyes scheming.

 

“Don’t you dare,” Louis warns, already guessing what the younger boy is thinking.

 

“Give it back and I won’t.” Harry’s eyes stopping right at the pits of Louis’ arms.

 

“I’ll dump this all over you, if you do.”

 

They stay that way stuck in a stale mate both glaring at each other and Louis really doesn’t want to give in but his arms are getting tired and he really is hungry. He sighs, bringing the bowl down, “fine, here,” and shoves the bowl back in Harry’s hands, Harry beams at him, “Thanks man.”

 

Louis rolls his eyes, “Whatever, don’t say I never did anything nice for you,” Harry barks a laugh and goes back to stirring the mix.

 

Louis got a fork from the drawer and stabbed a sausage off the plate, biting it in half, “Have you eaten?”

 

Harry shakes his head, “Not yet, wanted to get these in the oven first,” he motioned to the bowl in front of him.

 

“Oh,” Louis looks around at the food, “you should eat.”

 

Harry sighs, “I will, after this. Okay?”

 

Louis nods even though Harry’s back is to him, “Well I’m not eating till you do.”

 

“Good Lord Louis, just eat. I said I’d eat when I’m done.”

 

Louis comes over to stand next to Harry and look around at what else needs to be done, “Nope, I’ll help you. Then we can eat together.”

 

Harry bit his lip, he would love for Louis to help, but, “I’m not sure.”

 

“And why not?” Louis huffed

 

“I just, well, the thing is you aren’t the greatest cook.” Harry bite his lip, looking at him, even though it was true he didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

 

Louis gasped, putting a hand to chest, “How very dare you! I may not be the best but I am getting better.”

 

Harry nodded, “Yes but,”

 

“AND,” Louis continued, “If I do ruin them it will be your fault since you are my teacher.”

 

Harry sighs, “Fine, fine, you can help but just be careful alright?”

 

Louis nods, clapping his hands together, “okay, what can I do?”

 

Harry looks around and sees the least dangerous job, “You can line the cupcake tin for me with the paper cups.”

 

“What?! That’s it? I can do more than that,” hands on his hips.

 

“That for now and if you can do that without screwing it up, I’ll let you help when I make more batter.”

 

Louis raises his eyebrows in shock, “More? How many are you making?”

 

Harry stops his stirring and looks up in thought, “Well,” he drawls, “I’m making vanilla with raspberry filling and white chocolate icing,” he taps the bowl with the whisk, “and then I wanna make chocolate ones with cream filling and buttercream frosting.”

 

Louis’ eyes bug out, “Are you serious? Those sound fantastic.”

 

Harry blushes, “I hope so,” and he gives Louis a pointed look, “as long as everything goes smoothly that is.”

 

Louis places his right hand over his heart, “I promise to do my best not to muck up your amazing cupcakes.”

 

Harry smiles at him and then takes the paper cups placing them in front of Louis, “Now, work.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

And they do. Louis lines the cupcake tin fairly quickly and he knew he couldn’t possibly mess that up but Harry has been so anxious he decided further teasing wasn’t necessary. After he had finished Harry told him he could start making the white chocolate frosting.  Harry trusts Louis to make the frosting for the cupcakes. They had made icing before so he figured he couldn't mess it up to bad as long as Harry watches closely when he turns on the burner to melt the chips.

 

“Don’t forget to use the double boiler,” he said when Louis was about to pour them into the bottom of the pan.

 

“I knew that he,” he mumbled, placing the bag down and going back to do it correctly.

 

Louis was busy watching Harry as he poured the batter into each cup and he was transfixed with how smooth and steady his movements were, so, Louis wasn't paying attention as he added the powdered sugar and butter into the mixer. Harry opened the oven and was putting the tin in and Louis was not even fighting the urge to outright stare at the boys bum, luckily Harry couldn't see. Louis flipped the switch while gaping at Harry.

 

The machine made an awful whirring noise and the beater wasn’t moving, Harry stood up quickly and three things happened at the same time; Harry shouted, “NO wait!” just as Louis lifted up the mixer, forgetting to turn it off first and powdered sugar came flying out all over him and the still hard stick of butter flew off and smacked against the far wall, smearing grease as it slid down to floor, landing with a plop.

 

Louis stood there sputtering as the machine still spun and Harry reached over to turn it off, he took a look at Louis and burst out laughing, “What did you do?”

 

Louis spun on him, face and chest covered in the powdered sugar, “ME?!” he said, voice climbing, “It was your stupid machine.”

 

Harry’s eyes roamed over him, he hid his bright smile behind his fingertips, cheeks tinted pink and giggled, Louis wanted to shove himself in the oven and snog him for hours, wanting to taste his lips after he smeared the sugar all over them, wanted to lick his mouth clean and see if he tasted as sweet as the sugar, Harry gigging was just too much for him.

 

Harry shook his head, still smiling, “You’re supposed to turn it off before you lift it up.”

 

“Well I didn’t know that,” he swatted his hand at Harry, “and stop laughing at me.”

 

Harry just laughed harder, “Add a bit of milk and egg and we could turn you into a cupcake,” Harry reached out and picked a bit of butter of Louis’ face then doubling over with laughter at his own stupid joke.

 

“Oh really?” Louis eyed him carefully, “I don’t think I’d make a very good cupcake, you on the other hand.”

 

“Wha?” was all Harry could muster before Louis was attacking him, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist and burying his face in Harry’s neck, shaking his head and sprinkling the fine dust all over the younger boy. Harry only laughed louder throwing his head back, bringing his hands up to Louis’ armpits digging in with his fingers making Louis yelp. Louis pulled his biceps in trying to escape Harry’s attack and tighten his grip around his attacker, wanting to smear the butter on his cheek on the other boy as well.

 

They both were laughing loudly and squirming trying to get the other off while still tickling at the same time.

 

“What in the world?!” An female voice sounded out over their laugher and they pulled away with an embarrassed start, grins still on their faces.

 

Jay looked around her kitchen, powdered sugar on the floor, butter on the wall and her two boys standing there covered in the mess, the two boys took quick peeks at each other before doubling over in laughter. Jay stood looking exasperated, “You two are a menace. I don’t know why I let you in the kitchen at all.”

 

Louis stops giggling for a moment, pulls himself up straight and fixing his fringe with a sugar covered hand, “It wasn’t me, it was all Harry’s fault.” Harry fish mouths while boring holes with his eyes in the side of Louis’ head, “What?! But you’re the one…..” waving his hands around wildly, “THE BUTTER!” he half shrieks and Louis try’s to contain his mischievous smile, he really does but he can’t not with how flustered Harry is becoming but he pushes on with his teasing regardless, “Yes, I know. But you’re the one who said I could help. Sooo,” he points to the mess around the kitchen with his palm turned up.

 

“After you practically begged me!” Harry finally gotten himself together enough to fire back at him.

 

Jay looks on, head snapping back and forth between them, “You two are making me dizzy. Just clean it up.” She rubs her temple with her hand, closing her eyes, “it’s too early for a headache” she mumbles to herself but these two are good are becoming pros at giving her one.

 

The both stop and look at her, giving her small chastise smiles, “yes, of course,” they say almost in unison.

 

She smiles at them, knowing they will, then eyes the breakfast on the island, “And what’s this then?”

 

Harry beams, “Breakfast.”

 

“Harry made us breakfast,” Louis pipes in, always wanting Harry to get the praise he needs and deserves.

 

And of course Jay is always one to give it to him, “Oh Harry,” She comes around the island and takes Harry’s one clean dimpled cheek in her hand, “Thank you, you really shouldn’t have.” Harry blushes from embarrassment, Louis thinks he is far too humble for his own good, Jay gives him a light peck on the cheek, then eyes Louis and leans over to mock whisper in Harry’s ear, “Don’t let him ruin my kitchen any more than he has,” Harry chuckles, eyes darting over to Louis.

 

“What?!,” he squawks, “I have not ruined a kitchen in ages.”

 

Harry and Jay both burst out laughing.  Jay steps back and gives Louis a pat on his back, the only place not covered in sugar, letting him know she is just kidding, but not really, Louis and kitchens make her nervous no matter how much Harry helps him.

 

“Alright, get the butter off the wall and come eat breakfast.” She goes and gets three plates while both boys move to get the butter cleaned up.

 

After breakfast the three of them work together, Jay helping with the baking, Louis being asked to say away from all equipment and just clean while Harry flitted from cooking and cleaning. By the time lunch rolled around Jay was pushing them out with sandwiches in their hands so she could get started on supper. Ed and Graham would be here in a few hours and she wanted them out of her way, to eat and then takes showers. Jay had found half an egg shell in Harry’s curls and had eyed Louis suspiciously, who swore up and down that it had happened before he even got involved.

 

She didn’t believe him and Harry just stood there giggling not helping Louis out at all, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to shove the kid or smash their lips together so instead he grabbed his sandwich off the counter and stalked off toward the living room, a giggling Harry following him and a voice calling out for them not to sit on her couch till after they changed their clothes.

 

Louis stops in the hallway behind the couch, looking at Harry and motioning towards the back, “Wanna go eat outside? Since we are practically banned from the house.”

 

Harry snorts at that, “We aren’t _banned_ from the house, just the couch.”

 

Louis shrugs, “Same difference, so do you wanna?”

 

“Sure”

 

They go out to the back yard and sit under the tree that gives off the most shade. Louis leans his back up against the trunk and Harry sits crossed legged in from of him, Louis watches a moment at the light peeking through the leaves dances off of Harry’s tail as it swishes slowly behind him.

 

“You excited for your friend to come over?” Louis finally asks, moving his eyes to look at Harry, who is staring off at a spot behind Louis’ head.

 

“Sort of.”

 

“Sort of?” Louis has seen how excited Harry has been all week and doesn’t understand this mood change.

 

“Yeah, sort of,” Harry takes a bite of his sandwich, Louis stretches out his legs and nudged Harry’s thigh with his foot, “What’s the matter?”

 

Harry swallows his food and bites his lip, looking in Louis’ eyes searching for something and Louis prays he finds it and does his best to convey how seriously he takes whatever Harry has to say, wanting him to know Louis can be trusted.

 

Louis softens all his features which is easy when he is looking at Harry and whispers, “I’ll listen.”

 

Harry seems to take that to heart and finds what he is looking for because he opens up, “I’m nervous.”

 

Louis sets his sandwich down on the grass, not caring about eating at all anymore, with the scared look in Harry’s eyes, “Why babe?” He reaches out a hand to rub soothing circles in his forearm.

 

“What if, what if Ed isn’t happy?”

 

Louis isn’t sure what to do with that but he asks, “Do you think he won’t be?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Harry pulls apart his own sandwich, and throws a piece at the bird that’s pecking at the ground near them, it snags the piece quickly and flies off.

 

“Didn’t you tell me that Graham was really nice?”

 

Harry nods his head, “Yes.”

 

“And he is bringing him here for a visit. He wouldn’t do that unless he wants Ed to be happy.”

 

Harry looks up hopefully at Louis, “That’s true.”

 

Louis pulls his hand away, crossing his arms over himself, “Well then, I think it’s safe to say that Ed is most likely happy.”

 

Harry is still chewing his lip and Louis notices, “Is there something else?”

 

“But what if he’s not?” his voice soft, almost a whisper, and he turns to look away from Louis afraid of what his reaction might be.

 

But as usual a Tomlinson surprises him, they seem to keep doing that, “Then will make it so he is.”

 

Harry whips his head around, mouth falling open in surprise, “really?!”

 

Louis laughs, “Of course Harry. He’s your family which makes him our family and the Tomlinson’s always take care of their own.”

 

Harry’s face breaks out into one of his bright dimpled smiles and he launches himself at Louis, sandwich flying off to the side where a pair of birds descend and fight over it, his arms wrapping themselves tightly around the older boy, making a “oomph” noise at the onslaught of gangly kitten hybrid. But Louis responds in kind, yeah he is speaking for his mother on this but he knows she would agree. They both adore Harry and would burn down the world if it made him happy. Luckily it wouldn’t and Louis wonders when he became so wrapped around the kitten’s finger but he doesn’t mind.

 

Louis is wrapped up in his own thoughts that he doesn’t at first notice the way Harry is pressed against him, face flush with the crook of his neck, the warm air coming out of his mouth is all that his mind can focus on now and then Harry mumbles something and his plush lips move over Louis skin and he tenses, body going tight scared of the way it wants to respond. He takes a deep breath trying to calm down his racing heart, “What’s that?” he finally asks, hoping his voice remains calm, unlike himself.

 

Harry pulls back a little but not all the way off, and Louis isn’t sure if he should be thankful or curse the heavens, Harry’s lips are no longer on him but he can still feel him breathing and the curls that are tickling the side of his face, “I said, thanks for everything.”

 

Louis strokes his back, “No problem kid,” Harry goes back to pushing his face into Louis neck and for a brief moment it feels like Harry is kissing it lightly but that has to be Louis’ imagination.

 

Fuck, he thinks, he can’t even hug the poor kid without having impure thoughts, he needs to get him off but not in the way he wants, they need showers and Louis seriously needs a wank, Harry’s body has been flush with his for too long and Louis cannot control the boner he feels starting to pop up in his pants. He coughs into his fist, effectively stopping Harry from nuzzling any further into him, “Hmm?”

 

“I think we need to get moving and get clean up, before mum comes out and kill us.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Harry yawns, he hadn’t had his midmorning nap today and was feeling sleepy, he should try to get a little one in before Ed shows up. Louis smiles warmly at him, “Sleepy?”

 

Harry tries to shrug with his arms still around Louis neck, “maybe, just a little.”

 

“How about I’ll shower while you nap and wake you up when I’m done so you can have your turn.”

 

Harry nods and rolls over on to his back and off of Louis, “Carry me?” He pouts holding his arms out for Louis.

 

“What?” Louis laughs, this kid cannot be real.

 

Harry throws an arm over his eyes as Louis stands up, “I’m tired and I’m emotionally drained.”

 

Louis laughs, he’s never seen Harry be this dramatic before, “I must be rubbing off on you with all these theatrics,” Louis isn’t sure if he should be proud or annoyed at this development.

 

Harry pouts, “Please.”

 

“Fine!” Louis throws his hands up in the air and leans over, while Harry sits up and hold out his arms, Louis quirks an eyebrow at him and shifts quickly. He grabs Harry’s arm and pulls till he is standing up, when Harry gives him a questioning look, Louis tugs his arm again and bends over, his shoulder going into Harry’s stomach. That’s when Harry’s world turns upside down and he yelps out, “What are you doing?”

 

“You asked me to carry you, so I’m caring you.”

 

“This isn’t what I was expecting.”

 

“Well you didn’t specify, so stop being a brat.” And he gives Harry a swat on the bum, making him squirm.

 

“Stop moving or I’ll drop you.”

 

Harry falls limp and quickly realizes that his face is hanging just inches from Louis’ bum and he figures he just better shut his mouth now, since he does have a nice view. Louis walks into the house and up the stairs to Harry’s bedroom all with Harry on his shoulder and Harry is extremely impressed with his strength and the way Louis’ bum jiggles when he walks. Louis dumps Harry on his bed and pats his cheek, “Wake you up in a bit.” Harry nods, “Thanks, Lou.”

 

“No problem kitten,” and he scratches behind Harry’s ear before leaving, Harry curls up on his side and closes his eyes and Louis goes to take a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You haven't died of fluffy frustration, like I almost did with this fic, come and bug [me](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com)
> 
> And another gift for you is my [kitten](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com/tagged/kitten) tag for Harry.


	8. Slow it down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Thank you for being patient with me. I'm back and I am going to everything in my power to update once a week. 
> 
> The Song for this chapter is "Us against the World" by Coldplay
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Graham and Ed arrive shortly after one. Louis had woken Harry up after his shower just as promised. Harry grumbled at him at first but got up and showered, when he remembered why he was being told to get up.

 

When they arrived Jay answered the door while Louis and Harry got up from the couch to greet them as well. Graham shook hands with Jay and Louis, while Harry and Ed hugged, swaying back and forth, arms wrapped tightly around each other both refusing to let go. The three other people in the room looked on warmly. They left them hugging by the door while Jay invited Graham to come sit in the living room and Louis went to the kitchen get tea for everyone. Harry and Ed hugged for almost five minutes giggling through tears of joy. They honestly never thought it would be possible for them to see each other again and they couldn’t contain their happiness and thankfully no one seemed to mind, letting the two hybrids have their moment.

 

They finally pulled apart wiping away tears while still smiling radiantly at one another. They finally relaxed reality settling in and knowing this wasn’t a dream and went into the living room to join the group, hands linked together. The three of them looked up and smiled softly as the two hybrids came in the room, Louis might have been jealous of Ed holding Harry’s hand except for the way Harry was glowing with happiness having his friends so close to him and there is no way Louis could ever feel negative about anything that made Harry look like that.

 

The two kittens came around the coffee table and Louis stood up to shake Ed’s hand greeting him warmly, “Nice to finally meet ya mate. I’m Louis.” And Ed smiled, shaking his hand in return. Graham said hello to Harry, who unlatched his hand from Ed’s to come around and give Graham a hug of his own, “Thank you for coming to visit.” Graham laughed patting his back, “It’s okay kid, anything to see Ed smile like that.” Winking at Ed over Harry’s shoulder. Harry pulled back missing the way Ed blushed and then they both sat down on the floor by the coffee table.

 

Jay asked Graham what he did for a living and that launches the conversation off. Harry slowly tuning it all out, him and Ed curling up together on the floor, knees to chests, arms under heads, and fingers tap dancing against each other’s. They don’t talk, it’s not needed, just looking and listening to the rise and fall of their chests while breathing. Searching each other’s faces and looking deeply into eyes, pulling on the animal instinct to hear more in the body language than words could ever say, reading everything they need about the truth of their respective situations.

 

And they can tell with each minute twitch of the ear, a soft glide of a finger against a palm that everything is going wonderful for each of them and that they are happy. They giggle, smiling brightly and they link their fingers finally and squeeze tightly. The others in the room are watching them slyly and smiling down at them, not knowing what is being quietly shared between them but loving the noise just the same.

 

The doorbell rings and Louis jumps up to get it. Its Stan his best mate, they greet each other loudly at the front door.

 

At first Jay hadn’t wanted Louis to invite anyone over but Harry had spoken up saying that it was fine. He wanted to chance to spend time alone with Ed but he would feel guilty ignoring Louis and somehow Louis seemed to know that, jumping in as well, arguing his case, “Come on mom, Harry isn’t going to want me tagging along when he wants to talk to Ed. He hasn’t seen him in MONTHS!” Harry had smiled gratefully at him and Jay relented, she just couldn’t say no when both of her boys were working against her.

 

Stan was always nice to Harry but you could tell that he viewed him as a pet, not a family member as the Tomlinson’s tended to treat him. Which was fine for Harry, he usually kept to himself when Stan came over and when Louis invited him to hang out with them, Stan would talk to him and play video games with him. Stan had baulked the first time Harry sat down on the couch and not on the floor, his eyes had flashed wide and then flipped between Louis and Harry. When Louis didn’t say anything, he had relaxed slightly and went about as if nothing was off for him. Harry appreciated the gesture even though there are times when neither of them is quite comfortable with the other around.

 

Stan follows Louis back into the living room saying hello to Jay and Harry then greeting Graham with handshake and a small wave to Ed. Dinner is served shortly after that, Ed and Harry taking seats next to each other, tails hanging behind their chairs, intertwining. Everyone chats about what they’ve been up to, Stan and Louis talk about footie with Graham, Jay talks about the babies she helps bring into the world, Ed talks about how much he loves his guitar and playing music. Harry says he wished Ed had brought it so he could hear him play. And Graham jumps in saying that he actually did bring it in hopes they could all convince Ed to play for them. Ed blushes but agrees that after dinner he would.

 

Harry hops up once they are finished eating saying he will help with the dishes. But Louis pushes him back down in his seat telling him, “There’s no way you are doing anything other than hanging with your friend tonight.” Then goes about clearing off the table and nudging Stan who gets up and helps, giving Harry wink and a smile. Harry really likes Stan, and Lou, always Lou.

 

Once they finish up, Jay goes to make tea while Harry and Ed make their way into the living room, Ed goes out to the car to get Ed’s guitar. Once everyone is sitting down with their tea, a tray of biscuits set on the small table; Jay pulls a chair out of the dining room so Ed can sit and play. He plays beautifully, fingers gliding effortlessly across the strings. He plays music that they’ve heard coming through the radio but somehow through the way his hands move on the instrument, he is able to make it his own. Graham beams at him the whole time, Louis and Stan with small smiles enjoying the music coming from the small acoustic guitar, Jay and Harry sit mesmerized with tears in their eyes. When Ed finishes Harry actually leaps up clapping loudly, Ed smiles but hides his face behind his guitar, “Stop, I’m not that good.”

 

“No you aren’t. You’re brilliant!” Harry says practically yelling with his excitement, Graham and Jay laugh a bit at his enthusiasm while Louis and Stan nod their heads in agreement.

 

Harry begs him to play a few more, at first Ed just says no, but Graham looks at him eyes shining and nodding with a small, “please,” whispered at him, so he does.

 

After he finishes playing and they all hug him and tell him how wonderful he was, Graham and Jay have a surprise for the two hybrids. They had discussed having a sleep over for the two boys and Ed and Harry squeal with excitement.

 

Graham says his good byes and tells Ed that he’ll be back around ten tomorrow to take him back home and Ed gives him a tight hug with a kiss on his cheek. Louis and Stan decide they want to go see the new action movie but with the way he keeps glancing at Harry and Ed, it’s more an excuse to let the two hybrid boys spend some time alone.  Jay gets down a sleeping bag from the closet handing it over to Harry with an extra pillow and blanket. She tells Louis not to stay out too late and gives Ed and Harry hugs before she goes to the kitchen to finish up the dishes, something about wanting to get a start on the new novel she bought the other day.

 

Harry leads Ed up to his room, knowing they both are too excited to sleep but really wanting to talk and just cuddle the way they used to when they were little.

 

They set themselves up on the floor blankets and pillows surrounding them, the unzipped sleeping bag underneath. Just as they are settling down there’s a knock on Harry’s door, he jumps up, “Come in” he says slightly nervous, not sure how Jay will react with the setup. When the door opens she looks around the room and grins, not commenting at all, just holds out a tea tray. “Hey boys, thought I’d bring you up some snacks.” She places the tray down on the floor next to them it’s full of bags of crisps, biscuits and cans of pop.

 

They both look wide eyed at her, mouths hanging open, they both thank her profusely and she smirks kindly, saying good night and heading off to her room.

 

Ed grabs a bag of the BBQ flavored crisps and leans back against a pillow, “Got it pretty good here.” It’s not a question but Harry nods, watching Ed’s eyes as they roam around the room. In the few months that Harry’s lived there, he’s decorated his room a bit. Ed looks at the pictures on the wall, eyes landing on the picture Anne had sent him of her, Ed and him when she first brought Harry home, then Ed points his finger at a picture of him and Louis, “Are you covered in blood?!” He gets up from his spot on the floor walking over to it, eyes looking worried, “Why would you hang that?” Harry laughs, “No, Lou has a bad habit of lifting the beaters out of the bowl before turning them off. We were making red velvet cake.”  Harry remembered that day clearly, Jay had screamed thinking one of them was seriously injured then burst in to laughter realizing the truth and pulled out her phone to snap a quick picture. Ed chuckled at the story, "They seem real great," he says slapping a hand in Harry's shoulder. "They are." He responds a smile on his lips. They both get comfortable on the pillows once more, "Graham seems great too."

 

Ed folds his arms behind his head stretching his legs out, "Oh he is. He's wonderful actually."

Harry sits next to him, legs crossed, hands running lazily through Ed orange tail. 

 

"What's it like, at his house?” Harry asks while nibbling on a chocolate biscuit.

 

 Ed turns his face towards Harry, smiling, “It’s great. Graham is great.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Ed sighs but the way he does it, confuses Harry. Ed’s eyes glaze over and he says it like a prayer, like hope, face softening.

 

“What is that?” Harry asks him.

 

Ed snaps out of his daze, “What is what?”

 

“That face,” Harry waves his hand at Ed, “the one you are doing.”

 

“I can’t see my own face, right now. I’d assume it’s the same one I’ve always had.”

 

“Yes but you were thinking about Graham, and you got this face.” Harry tries to show him, tilting his head up, batting his eye lashes, pursing his lips, Ed laughs and playfully hits Harry’s knee, “I have no idea _what_ that face is but I’m definitely not making it.”

 

Harry flops on the pillows next to Ed, “Whatever, you were making a face.”

 

Ed purses his lips thinking, “I’m not sure about the face thing but I do know what I feel when I think about him.  


Harry rolls over and props his head up with one of his gangly arms, “What do you feel?”

 

Ed chews his bottom lip, looking nervous, “Well, and don’t laugh, but I think maybe love?” His pitch rises at the end, like a question, but Harry doesn’t have the answer.

 

“Love? Are you sure?”

 

Ed shrugs, “I dunno, maybe. I’ve never felt like this before. I mean, I know I love you! But this feels different.”

 

“What do you mean?” Harry’s green eyes are wide, he wants to know what this feeling is and what it feels like.

 

“Well,” Ed takes a deep breath, thinking of how to explain it, “It’s like, I care about him, yeah, like I do you, and I want to cuddle with him and just be near him all the time, I never get sick of it.” Harry nods he understands this, Ed turns to look at him, “But it’s so much stronger. And,” he looks down not meeting Harry’s eyes, “I want to kiss him.”

 

Harry gives him a confused look, “That doesn’t sound so different. We’ve kissed a bunch of times.”

 

Ed gives a nervous laugh, “Yeah but that’s not the same. I don’t want a kiss on the cheek. I want,” He looks up and meets Harry’s eyes, staring deeply, wanting him to understand without actually saying the words, “I want everything.” He whispers the last bit. Harry just looks at him for a moment as it sinks in.

 

His mouth drops open once it hits him, “EVERYTHING?!” he squeaks, “Really? Like…” he moves his arm in circles, like the words will magically appear in-between their bodies and neither of them well have to speak them.

 

Ed nods at him sheepishly, a slight blush runs across his cheeks.

 

“Have you?” Harry’s eyes are wide as he asks.

 

“No,” Ed lets out a frustrated sound.

 

“But you said you wanted to.”

 

“I do but Graham doesn’t.” Ed covers his face with his hands, embarrassed.

 

“He doesn’t?” Harry feels like his world has been turned upside down, never EVER has he ever heard of a Hybrid wanting their owner and the owner NOT wanting the hybrid back.

 

“He just says I’m young and he doesn’t want to take advantage.”

 

Harry has to sit up and hold his head in his hands, his brain is whirling, “I don’t, I don’t understand.” He mumbles

 

Ed sits up too and puts a hand on Harry’s back, “What don’t you understand?”

 

“They just take, right, isn’t that what they do?” Ed sighs pulling Harry into his arms, knowing exactly what the young Hybrid is saying.

 

“I dunno, H. I thought that as well but I was wrong.”

 

Harry feels tears running down his face, “I didn’t know they could be like this.”

 

Ed nods, “I know babe but Graham says we aren’t toys, we deserve more than that.”

 

He tries to wipe away his tears before Ed notices but it’s too late, “Why are you crying, love?”

 

Harry wanted to tell him the truth about how he wants to kiss Louis and how he never entertained the idea that Louis wouldn’t want to kiss him back but now he has doubts. If Graham has enough willpower to say no to Ed, then maybe Louis would too. But instead he says, “We have good humans.”

 

“Yes, we do.” Ed says, rubbing Harry’s back trying to calm him.

 

They spend the rest of the night lying next to each other holding hands and talking about their lives. Ed tells him about Graham teaching him the guitar and how to read music, which leads to Harry telling him about learning to read books. Ed notices that Harry spends most of his time talking about how wonderful Louis is and he starts to understand what Harry meant when he said Ed made a face when he spoke of Graham. Ed would describe Harry’s face as fond and thought it was interesting because he could swear he saw Louis making the same face while looking at Harry. He keeps this information to himself though, Harry doesn’t seem to understand his own feelings. This is something he needs to figure out on his own, he thinks.

 

They eventually fall asleep like that, fingers interlaced, empty bags of crisps, cookie crumbs and empty cans of soda littered around them. Harry thinks it’s one of the best nights he has had so far, apart from the first night he slept in Louis’ bed and he falls asleep before he can explore that thought further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are much appreciated. 
> 
> Come Bug [ME](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com) *nicely* to write, i need some butt kicking.


	9. Without you it's a waste of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is chapter 9, it's a bit longer then the others and I hope you all like it.
> 
> The title for this chapter is from the song "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay
> 
> *told you there was a lot of Coldplay in this fic*

Before Ed leaves with Graham the next day they make sure to give Harry their number, even going so far as to show him how to use it. Ed and Harry giggle as they play on Jay’s house phone that hangs on the kitchen wall, calling Graham’s cellphone and then hearing his voice come through the other end.

 

“God, he sounds like he’s right here.” Harry look of amazement as he stares at the receiver in his hands makes everyone in the room laugh.

 

Ed being the loudest, “He IS right here, silly.” He motions to Graham who is sitting at the breakfast table, smiling at them.

 

Harry swats him away, “I know that! But I mean like here, in my head.” He points at his curly head as he says it.

 

Ed’s eyes light up, “Really? Quick, gimmie, I wanna hear.” He grabs the phone out of Harry’s hands, pressing it to his ear, eyes looking up expectantly. Harry glances over at Graham, eyes wide, “Say something!”

 

Graham tries to hide a smile, “Right, okay,” He coughs into his fist once, “Helloooooo.” He drawls out.

 

Ed drops the phone, the old cord stretching out till the receiver bangs against the cabinet, across the room Graham wrenches the cell away from his ear at the sound.

 

Ed yells excitedly, “HOLY SHIT, Hazza!” And then slaps a hand over his mouth, eyes looking at Jay and Graham for any sign of reproach. Harry’s eyes are huge with his shock, he’s never heard Ed use that type of language before.  

 

Graham winks at the two hybrids and Jay is half doubled over with laughter, turning herself away from the two boys and covering her face. She thought it was bad enough having Harry, she isn’t sure how she would deal with two cute hybrids running around. She would quite literally die from laughter, she is sure of it.

 

This time when Harry and Ed say their good byes there isn’t as many tears. Knowing that they will see each other again and be able to talk on the phone as much as they want makes it a lot easier.

 

They are hugging in the front garden, wind tugging at their hair, Graham and Jay are loading up Ed’s bag and talking about something, neither of the kittens are paying attention to, too wrapped up the hug, tails intertwining at their sides.

 

Graham calls out to Ed, letting him know that it’s time to leave. Ed and Harry pull out from their embrace and lock eyes for a moment, seeing the lightness, wanting to always remember how happy the other is. Harry pulls him back into his arms once more and whispers in his ear, “I hope you get your kiss.”

 

Ed pulls away from him with a stunned look on his face before it turns into a small knowing smirk, “You too, yeah,” giving Harry’s arm a pat, letting go of the younger hybrid and walking towards the car.

 

“What does that mean?” Harry calls over to him.

 

Ed stops at the door, opening it up and gives Harry a wink before sliding into the passenger seat, closing it behind him and Harry is left standing in the front lawn bewildered.

 

 

                                                ---------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Christmas was fast approaching and so was Louis’ birthday. When Jay first told Harry that Louis’ birthday was on the Christmas Eve, Harry nearly lost his mind. Green eyes large and staring at Jay like this news somehow made her and Louis magic.

 

“Best present EVER!” He had exclaimed causing Jay to laugh and nod her head, “I’d say sometimes, yes. When he’s not being a brat and making a mess of my kitchen.”

 

Harry had colored slightly but giggled in agreement.

 

Harry was eager for Louis’ birthday but also nervous, he didn’t know what to get the older lad. He didn’t have any money, although Jay had offered to take him to the shops and help him out. But Harry didn’t want to do that, besides not knowing what possible thing Louis might actually want, he wanted to give him something more personal. He thought about making a big dinner for them but Jay told Harry that they were just going to get pizza since Louis’ mates had asked if they could take Louis out for his birthday, Jay had agreed but Louis’ wasn’t going to know of her answer till the day of.

 

“Are you making a cake?” Harry had asked Jay while they sat at the kitchen table drinking tea, they’d been discussing Louis’ birthday.

 

“I hadn’t really thought about it. We usually just get a store bought one.”

 

“Can I make it?” Harry asked timidly, he didn’t want to intrude on their tradition, if you could call store bought cake a tradition, he didn’t know, this was his first birthday with them.

 

“Of course you can, I think Lou would love that.” She reached over and tucked the curls, which had fallen over his eyes, behind his ear, “Do you want me to get candles?”

 

Harry smiled cheerfully, “Yeah that’d be great, thanks.”

 

“No problem,” she smiled, patting his cheek.

 

Harry decided that he wanted to show Louis how well his writing skills had been coming along, they had taken a break from it to work more on reading and Louis wanting to get him understanding not only what the words said but also their meaning. Go so far as to buy Harry an easy to read dictionary. It said it was for kids but Harry didn’t care, he was just excited to see that the older boy was taking just as much interest in Harry learning as he was. It worked out perfectly for Harry, since he wanted to surprise him and had taken up to practicing when he was alone.

 

Jay bought him a pastry bag and numerous tips and an endless supply of powdered sugar, for frosting. He planned to go all out with Louis’ cake, decorate it with icing flowers and writing, which Jay thought was ridiculous saying he didn’t need to do all of that but indulged him anyway.

 

Harry usually practiced on his decorating skills while no one was home. The occasional night that Louis went out and he and Jay stayed in, he would show her his progress.

 

“Oh, H. Those roses are beautiful.” She said one evening, he’d been working on getting the petals just right all week.

 

“Thanks, I never realized how hard it is. I’ve seen them do it on TV and it looks so easy.” He said shaking his head.

 

“Well, they’ve been doing it for years, yeah?”

 

“True.” He answered as he leaned down to make another pale pink flower.

 

“Can I eat one now?” She asked eagerly, spoon already in hand.

 

Harry chuckled, pushing a stray curl off his face, “You are just as bad as he is sometimes.”

 

“Well, we can’t have the evidence laying around, can we?” Her spoon inching it’s way closer to the wax paper that held the roses.

 

“Fine, just don’t bump me, I’ve almost got this one finished.”

 

He could see her smile from the corner of his eyes, “Thanks!” she said, carefully scooping up the frosting then quickly popping it in her mouth.

 

“Mmmmm, tastes as good as they look.”

 

“Thanks,” he gave her a smile with the corner of his mouth but stayed focused on the rose in front of him, the petals always drove him a bit mad if they weren’t exactly the way he wanted.

 

Jay rinsed her hands off in the sink and then left Harry to work on the flowers, acting as his look out for whenever Louis would return home.

 

\----------------------------------------------

 

The morning of his birthday Louis wakes with a start, sitting up swiftly, a hand reaching towards the empty spot on his bed. It’s still warm from when Harry had been laying there and the feeling as if something is missing, that had woken him, dissipates. The remnants of his dream still pull at his brains, fragments of curls and a forest full of dark green trees tug at his mind but he pushes them away in favor of sliding out of bed and pulling pajama bottoms on.

 

He works his way down stairs following the voices and sounds of pots and pans rattling around in the kitchen. He enters the dining room first and is about to push open the swinging kitchen door. When he is stopped by a lined piece of paper taped to the door, in large red crayon written in Harry’s crooked handwriting it says, “ _NO BIRTHDAY BOYS ALLOWED!_

_Please nock frist so we no your awake_

_OH! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!_ ”

 

Louis giggles to himself and runs the pads of his fingers over the waxy surface of the words, tracing the letters of “birthday” with a smile. He catches himself and wonders what he’s doing _acting like some creepy freak obsessing over some kids handwriting_. He shakes himself and takes a calming breath before knocking on the door.

 

He hears someone squeak and has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from breaking out into a fond grin upon hearing Harry’s noise of surprise. He then hears his mum mumbling something to Harry and a few cabinets opening and closing quickly before Jay finally says, “Come in!”

 

Louis pushes the door open and glances at the little note that Harry wrote for him before looking at the room. There is an instant cry of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” from the two of them and Louis does a little bow with a “Thank you, thank you!”

 

He stands up quickly as they clap for him which is kind of silly since he didn't actually do anything but then again went aren't they being a little bit silly.

 

He gives them a good morning and a "What are you two up to?" Which they both reply with "nothing" which seems suspicious but with it being his birthday he figures they are allowed to be a tad secretive, if it involves gifts. He moves around the island towards the fridge giving them a questioning look. Harry immediately slides in front of the door, arms spread out to cover it, green eyes wide in warning while Jay moves quickly to grab his shoulders and steer him away from where Harry stands guarding the fridge and over to the small breakfast table, "No need to go in there.” She says over his shoulder, “I'll whip you up something. What would you like?" She pushes him down into one of the chairs and he looks up at her eyes flittering between her, Harry and the fridge, "Uh...eggs?" He says, curious as to what they might have hidden inside the refrigerator.

 

She looks over her shoulder at Harry, who looks stricken but shakes his head no.

 

"Nope sorry, no eggs."

 

He gives them both furtive glances, “What about cereal?”

 

Louis sees his mum’s eyes glance over to the cupboard where they store the cereal, he can tell she’s just about to say yes when Harry pops in with a high pitched, “No! Uh….we don’t have milk.”

 

“Oh, Right!” Jay says, snapping her fingers, “I forgot about that.”

 

Jay watches Louis as he taps a finger against his chin, “You know what? Lou will have toast and tea for breakfast.”

 

Louis stops thinking of ways to get them to open the fridge, “But it’s my birthday.” The baffled look on his face doesn’t leave him even as she says, “Well that’s what you’re having,” and walks off towards the toaster and stove.

 

The rest of breakfast, well more like Louis-eats-by-himself-and-be-ignored-by-his-family breakfast, goes much the same. Jay and Harry stay off by the sink doing something, maybe washing dishes. Louis’ can’t quite make out what exactly though with the way their bodies are smushed together and with them whispering to each other and Louis feels completely left out, on his birthday no less. He’s just about to dump his cup and plate on the counter and stalk off to his room when is mum finally after 10 minutes of silence speaks to him.

 

“Lou, I know you asked if you could go out with Stan and your mates for dinner.” She’s turned her body around to face him but still manages to block whatever Harry is doing by the sink.

 

“Yeah?” He asks, while he peeks over his mum’s shoulder to see Harry worrying his bottom lip and concentrating on something in front of him.

 

“Well, I was thinking that we could do a small birthday thing here around lunch time, and as long as you didn’t stay out too late, it is Christmas Eve and all, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

 

Louis’ is only half listening to her as she speaks, moving to stand on the tip of his toes to try and see over Jay’s shoulder. When he hears the last bit he plops back down on the souls of his feet, “REALLY?” he says excitedly, Jay nods back at him smiling. He reaches out to hug her, which Harry notices and he quickly shifts his body to block what he is doing, pushing Jay away from him and towards Louis. Louis hugs his mom tightly and tells her, “Thank you so much.”

 

She pushes him back towards the door with a grin on her face, “Go text Stan and we will call you in a bit to come down for your surprises.”

 

Louis’ eyes bug out, “Surprises! What are they? Tell me, please tell me.”

 

Harry chuckles behind Jay, and his dark tail comes up and he slaps Louis’ arm with it. Louis grabs it reflexively and it twists itself around his wrist, the soft fur tickling his skin. He gives it a playful tug and Harry kicks out back at him to get him stop, nearly hitting Jay in the process.

 

“That’s enough you two,” she scolds fighting a smile.  Louis drops the tail quickly, forgetting his mum was there and it curls back up towards Harry, lazily gliding back and forth as he works.

 

Jay shoves him toward the door and he leaves to go talk to Stan.

 

He’s called back down to the dining room a few hours later. Lunch isn’t anything big, since tomorrow is Christmas and Jay has planned a big meal for that. Jay and Harry seem to finally be done with whatever they are doing and are able to give Louis their full attention. Which ends up being a nuisance because he can’t think of anything to talk about other than what they have hidden inside the fridge.

 

Finally, FINALLY, lunch is over as Louis was just about to burst through kitchen door and fling open the fridge to discover what is so important that he has been ignored most of the day. Jay and Harry clear the table taking the dirty dishes into the kitchen.

 

Jay comes back in carrying a small gift bag with different colored balloons decorating the front and blue tissue paper sticking out the top, she sets it down on the table, “Happy Birthday, Boo Bear.”

 

Louis pursed his lips at her momentarily in irradiation, “You haven’t called me that in years!” he complains before slipping into a bright smile as he eyes the gift.

 

“Yes, well, it’s your birthday and you’re still my baby, so deal with it.” She waved her hand towards the gift and Louis reached out to remove the blue tissue paper, “Hey wait, where’s Harry?” He asked, hands still poised to dig into the gift.

 

“He’ll be out in a minute. Just open your present, Lou.”

 

So, he did, ripping the paper out with gusto and shoving his hand inside, he feels around and pulls out the first thing his hand comes in contact with. It’s a few CDs, tied together with a ribbon, he smiles widely looking down at the names, (The Script, Coldplay and The Fray) it’s his favorites and he tells his mom so with a thank you as well. He reaches back in because he knows he felt something else and pulls back with a Spider-Man phone case, he kind of wants to shriek with joy as childish as it is. But he’s been eyeing this case for months. He'd planned on getting it for himself but ended up spending all his money on Christmas presents for his mum and Harry.

 

He jumped out of his chair and gave his mum a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you so much, these are awesome.”

 

She hugged him back just as tightly, “You’re welcome, Boo.”

 

He pulled away and reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone so he could put the new case on, "Man, I can't wait to show Stan he is going to be so jealous." He laughed quietly to himself.

 

The door creaked open and a curly brown head poked its way out, "Is it time?" Harry asked an almost a whisper to Jay. Louis stopped his motion of popping the case on and looked up to meet Harry’s questioning eyes, the top of his cheeks shaded a slight pink. Jay turned to look at him and nodded a yes.

 

He pushed the door open with his back a cake with candles in his hands. Jay and Harry start singing “Happy Birthday,” while Louis stares in awe at the intricate cake that’s slowly being set down in front of him.

 

It’s a cream colored cake decorated with red and pink roses, small green leaves and vines delicately placed around the flowers, a pink ribbon of frosting tied down at the bottom and it’s clear that whoever made this cake put some time in to it. In bright blue frosting in the center of the cake is written,

 

“HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY, LOUIS XX”

 

His grin while looking at the cake is brighter than the sun, Harry thinks while he sings timidly to Louis. He feels his hands shaking as he waits for the song to finish and prays Louis is smiling because of the cake and not how awful Harry’s voice sounds. Once the song is finished, Lou bends over and blows out the candles closing his eyes while making his wish, Harry knows what he would be wishing for but chooses to keep that to himself.

 

“This cake is spectacular! Where did you guys get it?” Louis asks, still staring at the cake, “I’m afraid to cut it, it looks too good.”

 

Harry blushes at Louis’ words, even if they aren’t directed at him.

 

“Harry made it. Been working on it for weeks.” Jay is quick to pipe in.

 

Harry’s blush deepens as Louis’ awed eyes move up to him, “H? You made this? For me?”

 

Harry nods, looking down at his hands, “I didn’t know what to get you. I hope this is okay.”

 

“Okay?! This is more than okay Harry. This is beautiful. Thank you so so much.” He moves around his mum and wraps his arms around Harry, pulling the younger boy into his chest and giving him a kiss to the cheek. When he pulls away, Harry looks up at him shocked, green eyes wide and a tingling is left on his skin where Louis’ lips had been.

 

Jay has the knife in her hand, ready to cut out slices, when Louis stops her, “Wait, I wanna get a picture of it before we destroy Harry’s hard work.” He pulls out his phone with its new Spider-Man case and snaps a few pictures of the cake.

 

They sit down and eat with Louis praising Harry with each bite, “Harry? Can I take some of it for Stan? He has got to try this. It’s so good.” Harry smiles shyly, nodding his head, Louis smiles back and reaches out to squeeze Harry’s hand that’s laying on the table between them. They finish up quickly, Louis gives them both thank you hugs one more time before going upstairs to get ready for the evening and Harry and Jay go in the kitchen to clean up the dishes from lunch.

 

Later when Stan comes over to pick up Louis, Jay and Harry are already curled up on the couch getting ready to watch a movie, Louis immediately pulls out his phone to show Stan his new case and then flips it over and to the side, pulling up the gallery and showing pictures of the cake Harry made for him, “I’m bringing some with us tonight. You’re gonna love it. Harry is a wizard in the kitchen.”  Stan claps him on the back, “Sounds good, man, you ready to go?”

 

Louis nods, “Just a second.” He goes to the living room where Harry and Jay are sitting, “I’m off. I just wanted to thank you both for a great birthday.” He bends over the couch, giving his mother a hug, “No problem, love. Just don’t stay out too late, Christmas Eve remember?”

 

“Yes, mum.” He says back before giving Harry his own hug, “See you later, and thanks for the cake. It was wonderful.” Harry hides his blush in Louis’ shoulder before he pulls away.

 

After Louis and Stan leave, Harry and Jay start their movie. The two of them spend their evening watching Christmas specials, drinking cocoa and eating popcorn. It’s nice and quiet even if both of them are missing Louis’ presences a little bit. They are in the middle of their third movie when Harry feels himself starting to drift off, he looks over at Jay and sees the same thing is happening to her. He nudges her calf with his toes, “Hey, um, I think I’m gonna head up to bed.”

 

She blinks open her eyes at him, “Yeah, that sounds good, me too.”

 

They get up turning off the TV and then dumping the cups and bowls in the kitchen before saying good night and heading up to their rooms.

 

 

\------------------------------------

 

 

Harry’s been asleep for maybe an hour, he doesn’t know for sure, when something wakes him up. A loud rapping at his window. At first it doesn’t quite register what the sound is but then it turns into a banging and he jumps up shocked and a bit scared. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and is just about to scream when he sees a shadowy figure pressed against the window pane. But the voice cutting through the darkness make him stop, “Let me in, Hazza! It’s fucking freezing out here.”

 

The hybrid scrambles out of bed, almost falling when the sheets get tangled around his gangly legs. He hears a faint chuckle from outside, Harry frowns at Louis’ face that’s pressed against the cold glass, fogging it up with his warm breath. Harry finally gets himself out of the jumble of bed linens and makes it over to the window, unlocking the latch and pushing it up. Louis’ slides in through the opening as soon as there is a wide enough gap.

 

Harry stands back out of the way as Louis climbs in, “What were you doing out there? I’m the only one around here who has nine lives.”

 

Louis stands up and brushes off the dirt and leaves stuck to his clothes, “Did you just make a cat joke?” His eyebrow cocked mockingly but the smile on his face betrays him.

 

Harry’s lips widen into a goofy grin, his dimples popping out as Louis laughs at him, “You did! You’re such an idiot.”

 

“I think the one climbing drain pipes at halfarse o’clock shouldn’t be calling anyone idiot.”

 

Louis shrugs, “Yeah well whatever, can we go to bed I’m fucking bushed.” He sways slightly on his feet, hand reaching out to brace himself against the wall. Harry sniffs the air around him and he notices the strong sent of alcohol coming off of the older lad.

 

“Are you drunk?” He says, shock coloring his voice.

 

Louis shrugs again, “Maybe,” he sways forward towards Harry, and the hybrid’s arms fly up to stop Louis from falling over.

 

"Shit, I think that climb wore me out."

 

Harry rolls his eyes, propping Louis back up on the wall before stepping over to shut the window and locking it, "Using the door wouldn't have been as exhausting."

 

Louis huffs, pushing himself off the wall to stand facing him, "I’m drunk, using the front door was not an option."

 

Harry smiles quickly to himself before throwing his hands up in horror, "Oh no Louis, but your under aged, whatever shall we do?" making his voice high pitched with his teasing. He rolls his eyes and lets his arms drop back down.

 

Louis gives him a playful shove, "Shut it you. I'm too tired for this."

 

Harry laughs and tugs lightly on the older boys wrist, "Come on you wino, get your kit off and get into bed."

 

"It wasn't wine, it was beer." Louis says as he pulls his clothes off. Harry averts his eyes and climbs into the bed, "Still a lush though," Harry half laughs out, while sitting up on the pillows.

 

Louis throws a shoe at him, Harry's hand snaps up quickly to catch it before it can do any damage.

 

"Lucky for my cat reflexes or you'd woulda woken up your mum with that one."

 

Louis shakes his head, "Aiming for your head not the wall."

 

Harry tosses the shoe on the ground and chuckles. Louis comes over and surveys the bed. It's only a twin while Louis' is a queen, "Budge over will ya," he says to Harry picking up the blanket to climb in next to him. Harry turns on his side and scoots closer to the edge of the small mattress. Louis slides in the bed next to him and Harry's breath gets caught in his throat at the first contact of skin on skin. He'd seen Louis in his briefs before and even though at times they both slept in nothing but there underwear, this is the first time, they actually lay this close together, usually preferring to stay on separate sides of the bed.

 

Harry closes his eyes tight and remained unmoving as Louis wiggled around in the bed trying to make himself more comfortable. He finally stopped and Harry felt like he could finally breathe again, relaxing into the warm sheets. Once Harry can breathe normally, he can smell the alcohol coming off of Louis’ skin and it kind of stinks.

 

“Hey, Lou,” Harry whispers softly into the shell of Louis’ ear, making the older boy to shudder before Louis turns his head to the side to look at him, “Yeah,” he says, and his breath is even worse, “You reek of booze.” Harry says with a teasing smirk on his face.

 

“Oh fuck off! I did not drink that much,” he pushes at Harry’s shoulder causing him to nearly fall off the narrow bed and Louis automatically reaches out and pulls him back, pushing him closer to his body. Harry curls his lean body around the curves of Louis’, slotting his feet and legs between the older lads as Louis turns over on to his side so now they are facing each other. Louis’ yawns right in his face and Harry waves the stench away, Louis’ grumbles and rolls his eyes, “It’s not that bad.” Harry just gives his glassy eyes a sharp look.

 

“How did you manage to get up here in this state, anyway?”

 

Louis’ blue eyes snap up, piercing Harry’s green with a weighty look, “Motivated I guess,” mouth opening in another yawn around the last word.

 

Harry shakes his head, not understanding, “Really though, Jay wouldn’t have heard you come in if you were quiet enough.”

 

Louis shrugs minutely, turning shy and looking vulnerable, not meeting Harry’s eyes, “I guess I just didn’t want to spend my birthday without my best friend.”

 

They are both quiet for a moment after that, just looking at each other in the darkness before Harry scoots himself just a bit closer and whispers, “Thank you Lou, you’re my best friend too.”

 

Louis smiles widely at him and reaches out to twine his fingers in Harry’s curls, “No problem baby.” The alcohol in his system making his tongue a bit looser than normal, allowing the endearment to slip out. Harry glows under the affection tucking himself down in the covers and pressing his face to Louis’ neck. Harry finds that pressed this close to Louis the scent of beer doesn’t seem to be as strong and all he can focus on is the smell of drying sweat on his skin and something that has always been remarkably Louis, a hint of sunshine and fresh cut grass.

 

He realizes as his face is tucked against Louis’ skin that he wants to smell him like this for the rest of his life and wants Louis to hold him this close every night for the rest of forever. He takes a few steadying breathes trying to calm his growing nerves, wanting to work up the courage to say what he needs to say. He somehow is able to pull himself away from Louis’ soft skin.

 

“Lou?” he whispers quietly.

 

“Hmm?” Louis mumbles, eyes closed.

 

“Can I give you another birthday present?” He asks, voice unsteady.

 

“Yeah, sure curly, whatever you want.” Louis’ long eyelashes sweep over his face as he blinks them open sleepily at Harry.

 

Harry pushes himself up causing Louis to roll over on to his back. He leans his lanky frame over Louis and he looks so small like this, underneath Harry. It sends a thrill running through Harry’s body, one that he hasn’t felt before but it makes his body grow taut, giving him the courage to continue.

 

Louis gives him a small tired smile, his eyes closing with it while Harry takes a shaky breath, body trembling with his nerves. He leans down, afraid to startle the boy beneath him. As he gets closer he can feel the warm even in and out of Louis’ breath against his lips. Harry is just about to close the gap and press a small chaste kiss to Louis’ thin pink lips when he hears a soft snore coming from the boy below him. Harry’s shoulders slump, realizing he’s lost his chance, he switches plans and gives him a small kiss on the cheek, and Louis smiles in his sleep at the touch.

 

Harry flops back on to his side but curls closer against Louis, laying his head on the boys’ shoulder. Louis’ arm wiggles underneath the covers and wraps its self around Harry’s waist, the older boy making a contented noise in his sleep as he pulls Harry closer, practically making him lay on top of the older lad. Harry goes with it of course, head resting against his chest and he falls asleep with Louis’ heart beat as his lullaby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it, let me know in the comments or on my tumblr  
> [HERE](http://iwillscreamuntilearsbleed.tumblr.com)
> 
> Hey guys! I'm doing my best to get things updated and I honestly thought summer would be easier but it's actually a lot harder to get anything written when I've got kids to entertain. :-/  
> I promise to do my best and get the chapters out as soon as possible.
> 
> *hiatus* sorry guys but until I get my head out of my ass I won't be updating. I am so so sorry. If you wanna talk about the fic and maybe help me, please do! Come visit me on tumblr or comment below. Thanks for read and love you all. And again I am so sorry.


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